Showing posts with label Former Khmer Rouge. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Former Khmer Rouge. Show all posts
Thursday, August 02, 2012
Wednesday, July 25, 2012
Tuesday, July 17, 2012
Tep Khunnal, ex-Pol Pot aide, retired and named Hun Xen's peronal adviser
 |
| Tep Khunnal |
Monday, 16 July 2012
ដោយ : ប៊ុន សំណាង
DAP-News
អតីតទីប្រឹក្សាបងធំទីមួយ ប៉ុល ពត បានក្លាយជា ទីប្រឹក្សាផ្ទាល់ សំដាចម៏ធំ ដែកចោរលេខ១ខេត្តបន្ទាយមានជ័យ៖ ប្រកាសតែងតាំងលោក អែម សុខា ជាអភិបាលស្រុកម៉ាឡៃ ខណះលោក ទេព ឃុនណាល់ ចូលនិវត្តន៍និងត្រូវបាន ក្លាយទៅជាទីប្រឹក្សាផ្ទាល់ សម្ដេចហ៊ុនសែន កាលពីព្រឹកថ្ងៃទី១៦ ខែកក្កដា ឆ្នាំ២០១២នេះ។
ពិធីនេះត្រូវបានប្រារពធ្វើឡើង នៅសាលាស្រុកម៉ាឡៃ ក្រោមអធិបតីភាព លោក អ៊ុង អឿន អភិបាល ខេត្តបន្ទាយមានជ័យ ក្នុងនោះក៏មានការអញ្ជើញ ចូលរួមពី សំំណាក់លោក លោកស្រី មន្ត្រីរាជការ គ្រប់ជាន់ថ្នាក់ កងកម្លាំងប្រដាប់អាវុធគ្រប់ប្រភេទ ជុំវិញខេត្ត និងប្រជាពលរដ្ឋជាច្រើនរូបផងដែរ។
Friday, April 11, 2008
The relevance of Cambodia
April 11, 2008
Daily Press (Virginia, USA)
Daily Press (Virginia, USA)
There are some names in the obituary columns that say more than the voices of the living.
Such is the name of Dith Pran, who died last Sunday at 65. He was the Cambodian photographer who somehow survived the collection of killing fields that his country became after the Americans abandoned it. And who somehow made his way to the United States to tell the world about it.
Hundreds of thousands of his countrymen would lose their lives after the Khmer Rouge swept into Phnom Penh and began rounding up just about anybody who could read and write. Literacy is dangerous. It gives people ideas, and the only ideas allowed in the new Cambodia were the Party's.
The toll of the Khmer Rouge's brief reign of terror in Cambodia (1975-78) is uncertain –– a million, two? Maybe a third of the country's pre-Communist population. The numbers can only be estimated, but the pictures of pyramids of skulls are well known. They've become emblematic of that bloody time.
It wasn't supposed to happen that way, not according to the sophisticates who were advocating an American withdrawal from Indochina in the 1970s. They blithely dismissed all the warnings that a bloodbath would follow once the United States abandoned its allies in Southeast Asia:
"Indochina Without Americans/For Most, A Better Life," –– headline in The New York Times, April 13, 1975.
The Times' correspondent in Phnom Penh, Sydney Schanberg, may have been the most blithe of all about Cambodia's better future once the Americans left. In a report four days before Phnom Penh fell, he wrote that for "ordinary people of Indochina ... it is difficult to imagine how their lives could be anything but better with the Americans gone."
Schanberg's limited imagination would soon enough be demonstrated by the unspeakable realities to follow. He was still sending optimistic dispatches even as the holocaust was proceeding. He was so monstrously wrong about what would happen in Cambodia after the Communist victory there that he won a Pulitzer Prize for it. The name of his Cambodian photographer, translator, guide and friend? Dith Pran.
The fast-talking Cambodian managed to save Schanberg and other Western journalists from the Khmer Rouge, but was unable to make it out of the country with them. In the swirling chaos of the Communist takeover, all was terror and confusion. The Khmer Rouge were emptying schools and hospitals and whole cities in their hunt for class enemies. (Anybody who wore glasses –– the surest sign of a bourgeois intellectual –– was in danger.)
Dith Pran managed to survive the ceaseless labor, the brutal beatings and the starvation diet (a tablespoon of rice a day), and eventually snuck across the Thai border. Reunited with Schanberg, he would go on to become a photographer for the Times.
Now, once again, the sophisticates are urging Americans to abandon an ally, this time beleaguered Iraq. The leading Democratic presidential candidates speak glibly of pulling out of that country as if there would be no ill effects. As in Cambodia?
This week the American commander in Iraq, Gen. David Petraeus, is testifying once again before Congress, and once again he'll be met by a chorus of cynicism, no matter how much real progress his strategy, aka The Surge, has made. Last time he testified, Hillary Clinton told the general it would take "a willing suspension of disbelief" to credit what he said. The critics of the war have their script and are sticking to it. Just as Sydney Schanberg knew all would be better once the Americans had left Cambodia.
What would an American withdrawal now mean for the Iraqis? It is now too late to ask Dith Pran. But his life and trials speak eloquently enough.
Greenberg is editorial page editor of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. Send e-mail to pgreenberg@ arkansasonline.com.
Such is the name of Dith Pran, who died last Sunday at 65. He was the Cambodian photographer who somehow survived the collection of killing fields that his country became after the Americans abandoned it. And who somehow made his way to the United States to tell the world about it.
Hundreds of thousands of his countrymen would lose their lives after the Khmer Rouge swept into Phnom Penh and began rounding up just about anybody who could read and write. Literacy is dangerous. It gives people ideas, and the only ideas allowed in the new Cambodia were the Party's.
The toll of the Khmer Rouge's brief reign of terror in Cambodia (1975-78) is uncertain –– a million, two? Maybe a third of the country's pre-Communist population. The numbers can only be estimated, but the pictures of pyramids of skulls are well known. They've become emblematic of that bloody time.
It wasn't supposed to happen that way, not according to the sophisticates who were advocating an American withdrawal from Indochina in the 1970s. They blithely dismissed all the warnings that a bloodbath would follow once the United States abandoned its allies in Southeast Asia:
"Indochina Without Americans/For Most, A Better Life," –– headline in The New York Times, April 13, 1975.
The Times' correspondent in Phnom Penh, Sydney Schanberg, may have been the most blithe of all about Cambodia's better future once the Americans left. In a report four days before Phnom Penh fell, he wrote that for "ordinary people of Indochina ... it is difficult to imagine how their lives could be anything but better with the Americans gone."
Schanberg's limited imagination would soon enough be demonstrated by the unspeakable realities to follow. He was still sending optimistic dispatches even as the holocaust was proceeding. He was so monstrously wrong about what would happen in Cambodia after the Communist victory there that he won a Pulitzer Prize for it. The name of his Cambodian photographer, translator, guide and friend? Dith Pran.
The fast-talking Cambodian managed to save Schanberg and other Western journalists from the Khmer Rouge, but was unable to make it out of the country with them. In the swirling chaos of the Communist takeover, all was terror and confusion. The Khmer Rouge were emptying schools and hospitals and whole cities in their hunt for class enemies. (Anybody who wore glasses –– the surest sign of a bourgeois intellectual –– was in danger.)
Dith Pran managed to survive the ceaseless labor, the brutal beatings and the starvation diet (a tablespoon of rice a day), and eventually snuck across the Thai border. Reunited with Schanberg, he would go on to become a photographer for the Times.
Now, once again, the sophisticates are urging Americans to abandon an ally, this time beleaguered Iraq. The leading Democratic presidential candidates speak glibly of pulling out of that country as if there would be no ill effects. As in Cambodia?
This week the American commander in Iraq, Gen. David Petraeus, is testifying once again before Congress, and once again he'll be met by a chorus of cynicism, no matter how much real progress his strategy, aka The Surge, has made. Last time he testified, Hillary Clinton told the general it would take "a willing suspension of disbelief" to credit what he said. The critics of the war have their script and are sticking to it. Just as Sydney Schanberg knew all would be better once the Americans had left Cambodia.
What would an American withdrawal now mean for the Iraqis? It is now too late to ask Dith Pran. But his life and trials speak eloquently enough.
Greenberg is editorial page editor of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. Send e-mail to pgreenberg@ arkansasonline.com.
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
Monday, September 03, 2007
AHRC: Immunity from prosecution for former King Sihanouk is illegitimate, unconstitutional and indefensible
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
AS-211-2007
September 03, 2007
A Statement by the Asian Human Rights Commission
AS-211-2007
September 03, 2007
A Statement by the Asian Human Rights Commission
CAMBODIA: Immunity from prosecution for former King Sihanouk is illegitimate, unconstitutional and indefensible
On August 24, 2007, the Cambodian Government, the National Assembly, the Senate, the ruling Cambodian People's Party and its coalition partner FUNCINPEC, in unison decried a request for former King Sihanouk to be stripped of his immunity and face trial in the Khmer Rouge Tribunal. The request had been made to the National Assembly by a little-known US-based Cambodian association called the Cambodian Action Committee for Justice and Equity. In their respective statements, they glorified Sihanouk's service to the Cambodian nation, which gave it its independence, territorial integrity, unity and national reconciliation. They also claimed Sihanouk had suffered when he had been overthrown by a coup in 1970 and when he had been under the Khmer Rouge's rule between 1975 and 1979. Sihanouk "had suffered more than most rulers," Prime Minister Hun said.
The government branded the request as being a "public agitation" that "could have the result of jeopardizing the peace and unity" of Cambodia "and play into the hands of those who would seek to return (the country) to its former state of war and chaos." Hun Sen called the request "very barbaric" and said that the top State institutions could not stand by and watch it set a fire blazing in the heart of the Cambodian people. Also in unison, all the State institutions "absolutely rejected" and "condemned" the request.
Sihanouk was crowned King in 1941 and abdicated in 1955 in favour of his father, King Suramarit, two years after having achieved independence for his country from France. In 1960 he became Head of State, with executive power, although he was not crowned king at that time. In 1970 he was overthrown in a coup staged by his Commander-in-Chief, General Lon Nol. His overthrow engulfed Cambodia in the Vietnam War and led to the Chinese-backed Khmer Rouge's open armed struggle alongside the Vietnamese communist forces. Sihanouk, while in China in the immediate aftermath of being overthrown, became the head of the Khmer Rouge-dominated government in exile. From China, Sihanouk was using his popularity to mobilise the Cambodian people to "go into the maquis (jungle)" to join the Khmer Rouge, who were emerging to fight against the Lon Nol regime with the help of the Vietnamese communist forces. He remained Head of State of the Khmer Rouge regime until 1976, one year after the Khmer Rouge's victory. In 1982 he again became Head of State of the Cambodian resistance movement against the Vietnamese-installed government in Cambodia. At the end of this war, in 1993, he was re-crowned king. Many Cambodian people still believe that Sihanouk was instrumental in the Khmer Rouge's victory, and was therefore also responsible for the suffering of the Cambodian people under the Khmer Rouge's rule.
In early October 2004, King Sihanouk abdicated, this time in favour of his son, King Sihamoni. Upon his abdication, in recognition of his life-long dedicated service to the country and achievements, the Cambodian Parliament conferred upon Sihanouk the title of "Great Valorous King" that granted him the same privileges and immunities as those constitutionally conferred upon the reigning monarch, as provided for in Article 7 of the constitution of the country. This was then enshrined in the Law on the Titles and Privileges of the Former King and Queen of Cambodia that was promulgated on October 29, 2004, by King Sihamoni. In their opposition to the request to strip Sihanouk of his immunity from prosecution, the top State institutions cited Article 7 which states, among other things, that "the person of the king is inviolable." They all held that the request would violate both the 2004 law and this article of the constitution.
The Asian Human Rights Commission holds that the Constitution of Cambodia, in its letter and spirit, confers inviolability including the immunity from prosecution upon the person of the reigning monarch, and not upon anybody else. No act of parliament can confer the same inviolability upon former King Sihanouk. Only a constitutional amendment could do that, although the immunity so conferred would still have no moral legitimacy.
The October 29, 2004 law that is being cited lacks legitimacy and is unconstitutional, and cannot therefore be used to enable former King Sihanouk's immunity from prosecution. There should be no obstacles preventing the Khmer Rouge Tribunal from summoning him to appear, if truth, justice and/or the rights of any concerned person should so require. Should Sihanouk himself or any or all of above-mentioned top State institutions obstruct its order based on this alleged immunity, the tribunal should challenge the constitutionality of this immunity at the Constitutional Council of Cambodia. After all, trials in Cambodia are no longer conducted in the name of the King, but "in the name of the Cambodian people" as stipulated in Article 129 of the Constitution. With the democratization of justice, even the reigning monarch's immunity is itself an anachronism, and that of former kings is simply indefensible.
The Asian Human Rights Commission strongly urges the Cambodian Government, the National Assembly, the Senate and the Cambodian People's Party not to attempt to defend former King Sihanouk's immunity from prosecution, as it is both unconstitutional and indefensible. They should lend support to the Khmer Rouge Tribunal, and should truth, justice and/or the rights of any concerned person require it, Sihanouk should be summoned to appear before it as a defendant or as a witness. As Cambodia is supposed to be a democratic country that is governed by the rule of law according to its constitution, equality before the law should be steadfastly upheld, and no one, including former King Sihanouk, should be above the law.
About AHRC: The Asian Human Rights Commission is a regional non-governmental organisation monitoring and lobbying human rights issues in Asia. The Hong Kong-based group was founded in 1984.
The government branded the request as being a "public agitation" that "could have the result of jeopardizing the peace and unity" of Cambodia "and play into the hands of those who would seek to return (the country) to its former state of war and chaos." Hun Sen called the request "very barbaric" and said that the top State institutions could not stand by and watch it set a fire blazing in the heart of the Cambodian people. Also in unison, all the State institutions "absolutely rejected" and "condemned" the request.
Sihanouk was crowned King in 1941 and abdicated in 1955 in favour of his father, King Suramarit, two years after having achieved independence for his country from France. In 1960 he became Head of State, with executive power, although he was not crowned king at that time. In 1970 he was overthrown in a coup staged by his Commander-in-Chief, General Lon Nol. His overthrow engulfed Cambodia in the Vietnam War and led to the Chinese-backed Khmer Rouge's open armed struggle alongside the Vietnamese communist forces. Sihanouk, while in China in the immediate aftermath of being overthrown, became the head of the Khmer Rouge-dominated government in exile. From China, Sihanouk was using his popularity to mobilise the Cambodian people to "go into the maquis (jungle)" to join the Khmer Rouge, who were emerging to fight against the Lon Nol regime with the help of the Vietnamese communist forces. He remained Head of State of the Khmer Rouge regime until 1976, one year after the Khmer Rouge's victory. In 1982 he again became Head of State of the Cambodian resistance movement against the Vietnamese-installed government in Cambodia. At the end of this war, in 1993, he was re-crowned king. Many Cambodian people still believe that Sihanouk was instrumental in the Khmer Rouge's victory, and was therefore also responsible for the suffering of the Cambodian people under the Khmer Rouge's rule.
In early October 2004, King Sihanouk abdicated, this time in favour of his son, King Sihamoni. Upon his abdication, in recognition of his life-long dedicated service to the country and achievements, the Cambodian Parliament conferred upon Sihanouk the title of "Great Valorous King" that granted him the same privileges and immunities as those constitutionally conferred upon the reigning monarch, as provided for in Article 7 of the constitution of the country. This was then enshrined in the Law on the Titles and Privileges of the Former King and Queen of Cambodia that was promulgated on October 29, 2004, by King Sihamoni. In their opposition to the request to strip Sihanouk of his immunity from prosecution, the top State institutions cited Article 7 which states, among other things, that "the person of the king is inviolable." They all held that the request would violate both the 2004 law and this article of the constitution.
The Asian Human Rights Commission holds that the Constitution of Cambodia, in its letter and spirit, confers inviolability including the immunity from prosecution upon the person of the reigning monarch, and not upon anybody else. No act of parliament can confer the same inviolability upon former King Sihanouk. Only a constitutional amendment could do that, although the immunity so conferred would still have no moral legitimacy.
The October 29, 2004 law that is being cited lacks legitimacy and is unconstitutional, and cannot therefore be used to enable former King Sihanouk's immunity from prosecution. There should be no obstacles preventing the Khmer Rouge Tribunal from summoning him to appear, if truth, justice and/or the rights of any concerned person should so require. Should Sihanouk himself or any or all of above-mentioned top State institutions obstruct its order based on this alleged immunity, the tribunal should challenge the constitutionality of this immunity at the Constitutional Council of Cambodia. After all, trials in Cambodia are no longer conducted in the name of the King, but "in the name of the Cambodian people" as stipulated in Article 129 of the Constitution. With the democratization of justice, even the reigning monarch's immunity is itself an anachronism, and that of former kings is simply indefensible.
The Asian Human Rights Commission strongly urges the Cambodian Government, the National Assembly, the Senate and the Cambodian People's Party not to attempt to defend former King Sihanouk's immunity from prosecution, as it is both unconstitutional and indefensible. They should lend support to the Khmer Rouge Tribunal, and should truth, justice and/or the rights of any concerned person require it, Sihanouk should be summoned to appear before it as a defendant or as a witness. As Cambodia is supposed to be a democratic country that is governed by the rule of law according to its constitution, equality before the law should be steadfastly upheld, and no one, including former King Sihanouk, should be above the law.
# # #
About AHRC: The Asian Human Rights Commission is a regional non-governmental organisation monitoring and lobbying human rights issues in Asia. The Hong Kong-based group was founded in 1984.
Saturday, July 28, 2007
The Year Before Zero: Dean’s Controlled Solution - ‘Internationalization’
A Cambodian Army officer, left, exhales marijuana smoke after using a homemade pipe as a soldier plays guitar in Phnom Penh. By the summer of 1974, an increasingly dire situation in the capital would lead to renewed calls from the US mission in Phnom Penh for a controlled solution.Brian Calvert, VOA Khmer
Original report from Washington
27 July 2007
Click here to listen Ker Yann narrates in Khmer
(MP3 format)
(MP3 format)
Part Three: ‘Internationalization’
In May, John Gunther Dean, the last US ambassador to Cambodia before it fell to the Khmer communists, turned over thousands of documents to the Jimmy Carter Library in Atlanta, Ga., part of the US National Archives. In part, the documents show the ambassador’s attempts for a controlled solution to the deteriorating Cambodian conflict, including a plan he called the “internationalization” of the Cambodian problem. This plan, he hoped, would bring an end to the conflict and prevent a one-sided, unchecked takeover by the Khmer communists. This is the third in a series of reports on the Dean documents.
By September, the communists controlled 75 percent of the country, with their eyes ever on Phnom Penh. In the capital, you’d be playing tennis and the rockets would crackle over the courts. At night, you might go to the cinema, but it was dangerous; communist agents had begun planting bombs around town. By then, a rumor was circulating among the population that Prince Norodom Sihanouk, the head of state of the Government Royal d’Union Nationale de Kampuchea, which included the communists, was negotiating with the Khmer Republic for a ceasefire.
In fact, the US administration was considering a Cambodian peace conference, in part thanks to ideas put forward by a fresh ambassador in Phnom Penh, John Gunther Dean. After discussions with the ambassador, Assistant Secretary of State for East Asia, Philip Habib, drafted a secret “action memorandum” for a peace conference and sent it to Secretary of State Henry Kissinger.
“Purpose of proposal: primarily to achieve a ceasefire linked to a political settlement through the early holding of an international conference,” Habib wrote. “The basic rationale is that if we let matters take their present course, the trends in Cambodia, the US and Vietnam will combine to produce an unraveling of the [Khmer Republic] and a more serious setback to US interests than the compromises that will inevitably have to be made under this proposal.”
A peace conference would “remove the danger of a challenge to the Khmer [Republic] credentials” at the UN’s General Assembly meeting later in the year, he wrote. In that meeting, the legitimate seat of the government would be decided between President Lon Nol’s Khmer Republic and Sihanouk’s Royal Government. The previous year had seen the Republic win a seat at the UN in a 53 to 50 vote. Diplomats were guessing the Republic this year would “barely squeak through,” the New York Times reported, but no one was sure.
A peace conference would also “move ahead of the growing Congressional opposition to US assistance to Cambodia and to obtain, in contrast, its support for this peace effort,” Habib wrote.
The Senate Foreign Relations Committee had prepared a bill for a $347 million aid cap for the following year, $200 million less than the administration of President Gerald Ford had requested. Without money to prop up the Republic, many assumed it could not survive.
An international conference could be pursued, Habib wrote, first by including the Chinese. The US would not oppose Sihanouk in a key role. US military assistance to Cambodia would not be necessary, but the US would contribute to reconstruction. Lon Nol and other leaders could step aside, if absolutely necessary. If the Chinese agreed, the United Kingdom, France and the Soviet Union would be approached, to create a “bandwagon effect” the North Vietnamese might jump on, “if they are to be invited.” The plan could include the UN secretary-general.
Even if no solution emerged at a conference, the US would be prepared to announce its efforts and endorse participation in a government by all sides, Habib wrote.
“In this declaration, we should make the points that we were, and are, prepared to accept and support the results of the conference, including the participation in a Cambodian government by all factions and that the US will be prepared to assist in the reconstruction of a peaceful Cambodia,” he wrote. The US would accept “any reasonable compromise which would establish peace and a relative political balance between the two sides, as well as among the Great Powers. The return of Sihanouk to a position of importance would be acceptable, as would the departure of Lon Nol.”
In Phnom Penh, Dean understood well the implications of such a conference, what he called the “internationalization” of the crisis.
“I believe that an international conference is the only course left to us to achieve a ‘controlled’ solution to the Khmer problem,” Dean wrote Habib on Sept. 13. “If no conference is held or no solution is found, then we must be prepared for an ‘uncontrolled’ denouement to the Khmer drama as US military and economic funds run out, the US mission is withdrawn and the [Republic] and [national army] disintegrate. Under the latter circumstances, a bloodbath cannot be ruled out.”
Syndey Schanberg, writing for the New York Times, summed up the ongoing war in story that ran Sept. 8.
“By the lowest possible estimates, more than 300 Cambodians are killed or wounded every day,” he wrote. “So far 600,000 Cambodians have become casualty statistics, nearly one-tenth of the country’s population of 7 million…. Both sides are now equipped with a greater abundance of lethal instruments than before, and the fighting is intense…. Nearly half the people of Cambodia are now refugees…. And yet there is no discernable motion toward peace talks.”
In the end, no international conference took place. The violence dragged on. When the rains stopped, the Khmer communists would be ready for a heavy offensive that would rattle the resolve of the Republican army—though not Dean.
By September, the communists controlled 75 percent of the country, with their eyes ever on Phnom Penh. In the capital, you’d be playing tennis and the rockets would crackle over the courts. At night, you might go to the cinema, but it was dangerous; communist agents had begun planting bombs around town. By then, a rumor was circulating among the population that Prince Norodom Sihanouk, the head of state of the Government Royal d’Union Nationale de Kampuchea, which included the communists, was negotiating with the Khmer Republic for a ceasefire.
In fact, the US administration was considering a Cambodian peace conference, in part thanks to ideas put forward by a fresh ambassador in Phnom Penh, John Gunther Dean. After discussions with the ambassador, Assistant Secretary of State for East Asia, Philip Habib, drafted a secret “action memorandum” for a peace conference and sent it to Secretary of State Henry Kissinger.
“Purpose of proposal: primarily to achieve a ceasefire linked to a political settlement through the early holding of an international conference,” Habib wrote. “The basic rationale is that if we let matters take their present course, the trends in Cambodia, the US and Vietnam will combine to produce an unraveling of the [Khmer Republic] and a more serious setback to US interests than the compromises that will inevitably have to be made under this proposal.”
A peace conference would “remove the danger of a challenge to the Khmer [Republic] credentials” at the UN’s General Assembly meeting later in the year, he wrote. In that meeting, the legitimate seat of the government would be decided between President Lon Nol’s Khmer Republic and Sihanouk’s Royal Government. The previous year had seen the Republic win a seat at the UN in a 53 to 50 vote. Diplomats were guessing the Republic this year would “barely squeak through,” the New York Times reported, but no one was sure.
A peace conference would also “move ahead of the growing Congressional opposition to US assistance to Cambodia and to obtain, in contrast, its support for this peace effort,” Habib wrote.
The Senate Foreign Relations Committee had prepared a bill for a $347 million aid cap for the following year, $200 million less than the administration of President Gerald Ford had requested. Without money to prop up the Republic, many assumed it could not survive.
An international conference could be pursued, Habib wrote, first by including the Chinese. The US would not oppose Sihanouk in a key role. US military assistance to Cambodia would not be necessary, but the US would contribute to reconstruction. Lon Nol and other leaders could step aside, if absolutely necessary. If the Chinese agreed, the United Kingdom, France and the Soviet Union would be approached, to create a “bandwagon effect” the North Vietnamese might jump on, “if they are to be invited.” The plan could include the UN secretary-general.
Even if no solution emerged at a conference, the US would be prepared to announce its efforts and endorse participation in a government by all sides, Habib wrote.
“In this declaration, we should make the points that we were, and are, prepared to accept and support the results of the conference, including the participation in a Cambodian government by all factions and that the US will be prepared to assist in the reconstruction of a peaceful Cambodia,” he wrote. The US would accept “any reasonable compromise which would establish peace and a relative political balance between the two sides, as well as among the Great Powers. The return of Sihanouk to a position of importance would be acceptable, as would the departure of Lon Nol.”
In Phnom Penh, Dean understood well the implications of such a conference, what he called the “internationalization” of the crisis.
“I believe that an international conference is the only course left to us to achieve a ‘controlled’ solution to the Khmer problem,” Dean wrote Habib on Sept. 13. “If no conference is held or no solution is found, then we must be prepared for an ‘uncontrolled’ denouement to the Khmer drama as US military and economic funds run out, the US mission is withdrawn and the [Republic] and [national army] disintegrate. Under the latter circumstances, a bloodbath cannot be ruled out.”
Syndey Schanberg, writing for the New York Times, summed up the ongoing war in story that ran Sept. 8.
“By the lowest possible estimates, more than 300 Cambodians are killed or wounded every day,” he wrote. “So far 600,000 Cambodians have become casualty statistics, nearly one-tenth of the country’s population of 7 million…. Both sides are now equipped with a greater abundance of lethal instruments than before, and the fighting is intense…. Nearly half the people of Cambodia are now refugees…. And yet there is no discernable motion toward peace talks.”
In the end, no international conference took place. The violence dragged on. When the rains stopped, the Khmer communists would be ready for a heavy offensive that would rattle the resolve of the Republican army—though not Dean.
Friday, June 22, 2007
Ex-Khmer Rouge General's Death in Car Accident Said May Be Linked to Trial
21 June 2007
By Seiha
Sralanh Khmer
Translated from Khmer and posted online
By Seiha
Sralanh Khmer
Translated from Khmer and posted online
"A military official has said that a brigadier general died after his car flipped over in a province bordering Thailand on 19 June," said a report by Seiha from the 21 June edition of the Cambodian newspaper Phnom Penh Sralanh Khmer online. The report added, "The brigadier general was Khim Sen, a former Khmer Rouge [KR] deputy military commander in the region of Anlong Veng and now a Military Region 4 official."
The report said that according to the source, the "accident occurred when Khim Sen, on a trip back to Cambodia from the Thai province of Surin, was driving too fast, which caused his car to turn up side down, killing him instantly."
The report added that the accident "coincided with a visit by Prime Minister Hun Sen's wife, Bun Rani Hun Sen, to combatants addicted to drugs at the military police rehabilitation center in Banteay Meanchey Province."
The report also said that according to eyewitnesses, the flipping over car "might carry secret goods, because it was driven too fast and border guards were not allowed to check it." However, other sources suggested that the "death might bury a secret linked to the KR Tribunal [KRT]."
The report further said, "It should be pointed out that in June last year, the former one-legged KR leader, Chin Choeun or Ta Mok, died in Phnom Penh Preah Ket Mealea and was buried in Oddar Meanchey Province's Anlong Veng District. Then on 19 June, another former KR commander in Anlong Veng was killed in an accident after his car flipped over. This death led to suspicion that Khoem Sen, too, might be a KRT witness."
Moreover, the report said that during the second-tenure of the Cambodian Government, "KR general Ke Pok was also killed in an accident after his car turned up side down in Siem Reap Province. Ke Pok played a key role in the KR ranks after Ta Mok and was also an important witness to testify in the KRT."
The report added, "It is suspected that if the international community pushed for the KRT to come out quickly, former important KR leaders would die before they are called to the bar. They would die of either diseases or old age or in car accidents."
To conclude, the report said Gen Sam Bit, who was charged with giving orders to rob a train in Kampot Province in 1994 and executing three foreign tourists in Kampot Province's Phnom Voar area, was "currently suffering severe illnesses."
The report said that according to the source, the "accident occurred when Khim Sen, on a trip back to Cambodia from the Thai province of Surin, was driving too fast, which caused his car to turn up side down, killing him instantly."
The report added that the accident "coincided with a visit by Prime Minister Hun Sen's wife, Bun Rani Hun Sen, to combatants addicted to drugs at the military police rehabilitation center in Banteay Meanchey Province."
The report also said that according to eyewitnesses, the flipping over car "might carry secret goods, because it was driven too fast and border guards were not allowed to check it." However, other sources suggested that the "death might bury a secret linked to the KR Tribunal [KRT]."
The report further said, "It should be pointed out that in June last year, the former one-legged KR leader, Chin Choeun or Ta Mok, died in Phnom Penh Preah Ket Mealea and was buried in Oddar Meanchey Province's Anlong Veng District. Then on 19 June, another former KR commander in Anlong Veng was killed in an accident after his car flipped over. This death led to suspicion that Khoem Sen, too, might be a KRT witness."
Moreover, the report said that during the second-tenure of the Cambodian Government, "KR general Ke Pok was also killed in an accident after his car turned up side down in Siem Reap Province. Ke Pok played a key role in the KR ranks after Ta Mok and was also an important witness to testify in the KRT."
The report added, "It is suspected that if the international community pushed for the KRT to come out quickly, former important KR leaders would die before they are called to the bar. They would die of either diseases or old age or in car accidents."
To conclude, the report said Gen Sam Bit, who was charged with giving orders to rob a train in Kampot Province in 1994 and executing three foreign tourists in Kampot Province's Phnom Voar area, was "currently suffering severe illnesses."
Thursday, May 24, 2007
Display of religious piety by … former atheist communist Khmer Rouge
Thursday, May 24, 2007
30 Gov’t officials will take religious vow to repay their answered prayers
Everyday.com.kh
Translated from Khmer by Heng Soy
30 Gov’t officials will take religious vow to repay their answered prayers
Everyday.com.kh
Translated from Khmer by Heng Soy
A high-ranking official from the Ministry of Interior (MoI) told Kampuchea Thmei newspaper that, on 22 June 2007, about 30 high-ranking government officials will take the vow and become monks in a huge ceremony to be celebrated in Koh Kong province. The MoI official also said that the 30 who will take their religious vows, will include the provincial governor, the deputy-provincial governor, the (provincial) police chief, the army (provincial) chief, the military (provincial) police commander, directors of various (provincial) departments, judges, etc… Yuth Puthang, the Koh Kong provincial governor, whose name appears on the list of the 30 who will take the vow, told Kampuchea Thmei, that he himself will take the vow and become a Buddhist monk to repay an answered prayer, for a 7-day period starting from 22 June. Yuth Puthang said that under the Khmer Rouge regime, scores of Cambodian people died in the hands of Pol Pot. Therefore, the vow taking ceremony is a commemoration of the spirits of those departed. At the end, Yuth Puthang stressed that the vow taking pageantry will be presided by Supreme Patriarch monk Tep Vong (a former politburo member of the communist People’s Republic of Kampuchea regime), and Tea Banh, the Vice-prime Minister and Minister of National Defense (a former Khmer Rouge).
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
