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- Message-ID: <199301111500.AA02138@peora.sdc.ccur.com>
- Newsgroups: bit.listserv.seasia-l
- Date: Mon, 11 Jan 1993 10:00:54 -0500
- Sender: Southeast Asia Discussion List <SEASIA-L@MSU.BITNET>
- From: Nhan Tran <tran@PEORA.SDC.CCUR.COM>
- Subject: CAM: UN adopts new powers to curb violence
- Lines: 57
-
- 01/07
-
- UNITED NATIONS ADOPTS NEW POWERS TO CURB CAMBODIA VIOLENCE
-
- PHNOM PENH, CAMBODIA (JAN. 7) UPI - U.N. authorities in Cambodia on Thursday
- adopted new powers to allow U.N. troops and police to arrest, detain and trail
- those who violate human rights, a U.N. spokesman said.
- The orders, signed by Yasushi Akashi, head of the U.N. Transitional
- Authority in Cambodia or UNTAC, came amid increasing concern over politically
- motivated attacks on opposition parties.
- "All these measures demonstrate UNTAC's commitment to creating a neutral
- political environment," UNTAC spokesman Eric Falt said. "We are not satisfied
- with the current situation and will make every effort to improve it.
- "Under the directive, UNTAC will review investigations of politically
- motivated acts of violence, ethnic killings and any other crimes for which
- justice will not have been served," Falt said.
- "Where sufficient evidence exists, (Akashi) will be able to delegate powers
- of arrest and detention to U.N. military and police officers, who will be able
- to secure imprisonment of the suspect," he said.
- Akashi signed the new orders Thursday morning before flying to Beijing to
- meet head of state Prince Norodom Sihanouk, who has been in the Chinese capital
- for the past two months, ostensibly to receive medical treatment.
- Sihanouk announced Monday he could no longer work with UNTAC or the Phnom
- Penh government because of their alleged failure to curb the mounting political
- violence against the opposition faction headed by his son, Prince Ranariddh.
- "At least Akashi is going to Beijing with something to offer Sihanouk," one
- Phnom Penh diplomat said after the announcement of UNTAC's new powers.
- Other diplomats said they were hoping Akashi will persuade Sihanouk to
- return to Phnom Penh and resume working with UNTAC.
- The Phnom Penh government and three resistance factions signed a peace
- agreement in Paris 14 months ago aimed at ending 13 years of conflict in
- Cambodia. That fighting began after a 1979 Vietnamese invasion installed a
- Hanoi-backed government.
- Under the agreement, UNTAC is to take the country to elections scheduled for
- May. UNTAC has said it plans to proceed with the elections even if the radical
- Khmer Rouge faction persists in its refusal to take part.
- The Khmer Rouge, whose brutal regime was ousted by the invading Vietnamese
- troops in 1979, dropped out of the peace process in June. UNTAC also has
- accused Khmer Rouge guerrillas of staging racially motivated attacks on ethnic
- Vietnamese in Cambodia.
- State President Heng Samrin meanwhile appealed to the government Thursday to
- cooperate closely with U.N. peacekeepers in Cambodia to prevent further attacks
- by the radical Khmer Rouge faction.
- Heng Samrim appealed to the government to "have good cooperation with UNTAC
- and various factions to implement the Paris peace agreement and actively oppose
- the poisoned neutral political environment made by the Khmer Rouge."
- He told a Liberation Day anniversary gathering that the government should
- "use rights of self-defense to oppose all Khmer Rouge military violations, and
- the authorities at all levels must be more cautious (and) oppose to the
- greatest extent possible the armed banditry activities and terrorism."
- In his 20-minute speech, Samrin told the 700 participants from various
- government ministries that some political parties are colluding with the Khmer
- Rouge to cause trouble in the country.
- The government should "strongly condemn all activities in collusion with the
- Khmer Rouge and all cooperation aimed at sharing interest with the Khmer Rouge."
- Prime Minister Hun Sen and the head of the ruling Cambodian People's Party,
- Chea Sim, were not present at the gathering.
-