PRESS CONFERENCE BY PERMANENT REPRESENTATIVE OF CAMBODIA

Press Briefing

PRESS CONFERENCE BY PERMANENT REPRESENTATIVE OF CAMBODIA

At a Headquarters press conference yesterday afternoon, the Permanent Representative of Cambodia to the United Nations, Prince Sisowath Sirirath, said First Prime Minister Prince Norodom Ranariddh was pleased by the "wise and just" decision of the United Nations General Assembly Credentials Committee to leave the Cambodian seat vacant indefinitely during the fifty- second session of the Assembly.

He said the decision was not an insult to King Norodom Sihanouk, as claimed by Mr. Ung Huot. Rather, it was Mr. Hun Sen who insulted His Majesty by forcing the King to sign the Assembly credentials of the illegal regime. The Committee's decision showed that the United Nations stood for democratic principles.

Since becoming King of Cambodia in 1993, Prince Sisowath said, the King had not signed any credentials for the Cambodian delegation. In recent years those had been signed by Cambodian foreign ministers; the decision of the Credentials Committee, therefore, was not a decision to disregard the signature of the King.

A correspondent asked the Prince what would be the likely time-frame of the Credentials Committee's ultimate decision. He replied that the Committee could meet again after the general debate was over, as they had done in the cases of Afghanistan and Sierra Leone. His delegation would like to see the decision held over until after next May's general election in Cambodia, if the election was still held. He had heard this morning from Phnom Penh that Mr. Hun Sen said if he was not seated at the General Assembly, that perhaps the United Nations should not participate in monitoring the election.

Another correspondent followed up, asking whether a vacant Cambodian seat would make it difficult for the United Nations to participate in the election. Prince Sisowath replied that the vacant seat would mean only that the Cambodian delegation could not attend any meetings or participate in any decisions of the fifty-second session of the General Assembly.

Asked how Mr. Hun Sen should be received at the United Nations, the Prince replied that it should be as Second Prime Minister. Nations all over the world still recognised Prince Ranariddh as the legal First Prime Minister. Another correspondent asked what was the difference between the positions of First and Second Prime Minister, and the Prince stated that, as far as authority was concerned, there was no difference. He said that the position of Second Prime Minister was created by the King as a power-sharing compromise following Mr. Hun Sen's refusal to accept the results of the 1993 elections, which were won by the royalist party.

Asked when Mr. Hun Sen would be coming to the United Nations, Prince Sisowath replied that he did not know. His information was based on press reports from Phnom Penh that Mr. Hun Sen had already left for Paris and Japan, before coming to New York. Mr. Hun Sen had sent Foreign Minister Ung Huot in advance to check if the United Nations would welcome him. Mr. Hun Sen had

Cambodia Press Conference - 2 - 23 September 1997

apparently asked to be received on 27 September. Prince Sisowath also confirmed that Prince Ranariddh was still in New York.

A correspondent asked the Prince whether he was not bothered by the fact that Mr. Hun Sen would be received at the United Nations, or by what could be seen as the Credentials Committee's "failure to stand up for law". He replied that the Credentials Committee had done the right thing. Many members of the Committee had spoken in favour of seating the delegation of Prince Ranariddh, but out of respect for the King, China and the Russian Federation had opposed. On the other hand, the Committee could not vote to seat Mr. Hun Sen's delegation because doing so would be to accept the coup d'etat. He added that if the Secretary-General decided to receive Mr. Hun Sen, he should first receive Prince Ranariddh.

Asked in what capacity he was speaking to correspondents, he replied that he was the Permanent Representative of Cambodia to the United Nations. Any document that came after the coup, including his letter of recall, was not valid. The letter needed to have had the signatures of both Prime Ministers, and Prince Ranariddh had not signed it. Asked about his accreditation to the fifty-second session of the Assembly, he replied that his name was listed in the credentials signed by Prince Ranariddh.

A correspondent asked the Prince how his Mission was surviving in New York at the moment. He said he was surviving on his own, and with contributions from friends and Cambodian businesses in the Untied States and Canada. Asked if he would be able to go back to Cambodia, the Prince replied that he would not go back if "this tyrant continues to rule Cambodia", violating every norm of human rights. It would be impossible to work with a man like that, a man who was never elected in his life. "I cannot foresee what my future would be, but as long as I live, I will continue to fight against such a tyrant."

The Prince added that he had proposed to Prince Ranariddh that Cambodia "do away" with its national army, as Costa Rica had done, and he suggested that the Cambodian leaders talk to Costa Rica about the implementation of such a plan. Every 20 years Cambodia had had a coup d'etat: "Why keep an army just to destroy our own people?" In Cambodia, "when you wear a uniform, it's not to serve and protect, but to frighten and to oppress the people". A correspondent asked what Prince Ranariddh's reaction to this proposal had been. Prince Sisowath said the First Prime Minister had liked it very much.

A correspondent asked about current foreign assistance to Cambodia, and in particular whether there was any special help coming from Vietnam. The Prince applauded the decision of the Consultative Group meeting in Paris and of the International Conference on the Reconstruction of Cambodia not to give pledges to the present regime of Mr. Hun Sen. He said the Cambodian people would not die while they could still cultivate vegetables and catch fish to eat, but the Hun Sen regime would sooner or later collapse. The regime would have used aid to buy more weapons to oppress the people. If there was no money, the army and the entire Cambodian population would eventually revolt. Over 60 per cent of the Cambodian national budget depended on pledges made every year by the 36 nations of the Consultative Group, which meets in Paris or in Japan every year. * *** *