PRESS CONFERENCE BY CAMBODIA

Press Briefing

PRESS CONFERENCE BY CAMBODIA

At a Headquarters press conference today, the Permanent Representative of Cambodia to the United Nations, Prince Sisowath Sirirath, denounced the election of a new First Prime Minister by Cambodia's National Assembly this morning.

The National Unified Front for an Independent, Peaceful, Neutral and Cooperative Cambodia (FUNCINPEC) "denounced the mock National Assembly to elect Foreign Minister Ung Huot as the First Prime Minister to replace Prince Norodom Ranariddh", the Ambassador said. That action was illegal and not in accordance with Cambodia's Constitution.

Within the FUNCINPEC Party, the custom was that a new Prime Minister was appointed by the members of its Standing Committee, made up of 35 persons, Prince Sirirath said. Right now, only 17 members from the Party's Standing Committee were present in Cambodia. The President of the Standing Committee, Son Soubert -- who was also the Vice-President of the National Assembly -- had requested postponement of the National Assembly's meeting. However, Cambodia's Second Prime Minister, Hun Sen, had ignored the request.

Ninety-nine members of the Parliament had been present at this morning's meeting, the Ambassador said. Eighty-six had cast their vote in favour of Ung Huot. It was not clear if that vote had been cast sincerely or under threat from Hun Sen. King Norodom Sihanouk had made a statement to the effect that he would be unable to recognize the new Prime Minister because Prince Ranariddh had only been accused by Hun Sen and had not been tried or sentenced.

The Ambassador drew correspondents attention to the fact that the logo of the FUNCINPEC Party still bore a picture of Prince Ranariddh.

The National Assembly this morning lifted immunity from Prince Ranariddh, a correspondent said. Would that increase the danger faced by him? The Ambassador said the Prince had already been in danger when Hun Sen brought tanks to depose him -- a legally elected Prime Minister, who had been recognized worldwide in elections organized and supervised by the United Nations. So the danger had existed since the violent coup d'etat of 5 and 6 July. As Prince Ranariddh had said, right now in Cambodia it was "the Hun Sen rule of law and the justice was Hun Sen justice". The FUNCINPEC Party had not been able to appoint any judges in the courts for the past four years. Now Hun Sen was saying that Prince Ranariddh would have to go and face trial in Cambodia. Everyone already knew what the outcome of such a trial would be. It would be a very short trial, very much like the one organized by the Khmer Rouge for Pol Pot.

A correspondent asked whether the Ambassador's former Deputy Permanent Representative, Ouch Borith, had formally applied to be the next Permanent Representative of Cambodia. Prince Sirirath responded that his situation was similar to that of the Permanent Representatives of Sierra Leone and Afghanistan. Anything that came out of the coup was illegal until the Credentials Committee determined how to handle the matter. That body would meet after the opening of the General Assembly's fifty-second session. If any country wanted to challenge his credentials, it would have to submit the matter to the plenary, where it would be put to a vote. In a 30 July letter to the Secretary-General, the acting head of State, Chea Sim, "had praised my efforts as the Permanent Representative and stated that I was needed back home in Cambodia", Prince Sirirath said, adding "you know what will become of me when I return". However, the letter was not valid because the King had refused to sign it. In fact, the King was not in favour of recalling any of the Ambassadors around the world. The letter of recall was strange in that it did not assign any of the Ambassadors recalled to any posts.

Commenting on the trial of Pol Pot, he said Prince Ranariddh had been accused of illegally dealing with the Khmer Rouge. However, Hun Sen himself had dealt with Ieng Sary, Pol Pot's brother-in-law, who now lived in the western part of Cambodia. Moreover, Prince Ranariddh had not been informed of those dealings until Hun Sen required the Prince's support to request amnesty for Ieng Sary from the King.

Prince Ranariddh had known that Pol Pot was alive and had tried to negotiate with Khieu Samphan of the Khmer Rouge to bring him to trial, the Ambassador said. Both Hun Sen and Prince Ranariddh had sent a letter to the Secretary-General on 18 June asking him to look into the possibility of creating an international tribunal for Cambodia, to try Khmer Rouge leaders for crimes committed between 1975 and 1979.

Following the coup, the Khmer Rouge had held a short trial for Pol Pot, the Ambassador said. It was doubtful if Hun Sen would be able to bring Pol Pot before the international community. If the Khmer Rouge knew that Pol Pot was to be taken away by force, they would kill him as well as Hun Sen's soldiers. Therefore, it was quite impossible now to bring him to justice. The remark by Hun Sen in his 30 July interview with ABC Television Network, that he was working closely with the Royal Thai Armed Forces to seal the border of Cambodia and capture Pol Pot, was stunning. "Perhaps it was his habit to bring foreign forces in Cambodia", the Ambassador said.

Questioned further on the matter of credentials, the Ambassador said that everyone was waiting for the King's position. The King had stated that he would not recognize the new Prime Minister. However, Hun Sen had said that he wanted to call on the King, who had agreed to receive Hun Sen as the Second Prime Minister and Ung Huot as the Foreign Minister.

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