An Alternative in Cambodia
HAHN, LORNA
NEITHER POL POT NOR HENG SAMRIN An Alternative in Cambodia b™a^ Ever since the Soviet-backed Vietnamese invaded Cambodia in January 1979, the big dilemma for the West has been whom, if anyone,...
...Former Cambodian Prime Minister Son Sann and his non-Communist Khmer People's National Liberation Front (KPNLF) believe they are such an alternative, however, and have recently stepped up their efforts to persuade the West of this...
...General Assembly resolution of November 14, 1979 (reLorna Hahn, a veteran New Leader contriubtor, is the executive director of the Association on Third World Affairs...
...We ask humanitarian and financial aid—we ourselves will get our own weapons...
...They include Pol Pot, now merely party Secretary General after having given the posts of chief of state and prime minister to Khieu Samphan...
...The following August they combined with part of the Right-wing Khmer Serei ("Free Cambodia") for the purpose of "defending our people against further inhumanitar-ian practices of the Khmer Rouge, and against the Vietnamese-backed puppet government of Heng Samrin...
...On October 9, 1979, after other soldiers and civilians had joined theunder-taking, the formation of the Khmer People' s National Liberation Front was announced...
...Then, it is maintained, Vietnam would have a plausible excuse for ending the occupation that has cost it so dearly in world opinion...
...general elections under U.N...
...Whether the Kremlin would permit that kind of "first" is surely open to question...
...a cessation of all hostilities...
...Therefore, the formation of a provisional government that would be recognized by theUN is urged, with Son Sann as Prime Minister and his colleagues having a majority of the Cabinet posts...
...Son Sann, a financier with 24 years of experience in top positions under ousted Prince Noradom Sihanouk, had by then flown in from exile in Paris and was named President...
...and remained independent...
...And if we win, our country would be the first in the Soviet bloc to be liberated through military and diplomatic efforts...
...Yet Washington acquiesced to the seating of Pol Pot's representatives at the United Nations last fall for lack of a credible alternative to the delegation sent by the conquering Vietnamese...
...unreserved help for humanitarian organizations...
...It called for the unconditional retreat of Vietnamese Armed Forces...
...Their absence, though, only served to strengthen a painstakingly constructed scenario that the KPNLF has advanced...
...Moreover, it is said, the Soviet Union, which has been spending $3-5 million a day to feed the Cambodians and is weighed down with Afghan, Polish and Middle Eastern woes, would probably seize the opportunity for a diplomatic exit from the quagmire...
...Six months later, on April 24-25, 1980, the KPNLF held its first National Congress on Cambodian soil, and adopted an international program that conformed to the U.N...
...In addition, it is being bolstered by the refugee communities in many countries, and it enjoys the approval of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (asean), comprising Thailand, Malaysia, the Philippines, Indonesia, andSingapore...
...Son Sann, an independent spirit with a long record of forging compromises and opposing both Left-and Right-wing extremists, has been resisting asean pressures to ally with the Khmer Rouge against the Vietnamese, just as he previously rejected a Vietnamese offer to install him as the replacement for Pol Pot immediately prior to the Vietnamese invasion...
...adopted on October 22,1980...
...Son Sen, Defense Minister and Commander-in-Chief...
...But Son Sann makes a persuasive case...
...During a recent visit to Washington, Son Sann and his aides were warmly received by high Reagan Administration officials, and are said to have received considerable diplomatic encouragement...
...But they feel they need more tangible support if they are to retrieve their country...
...and Ta Mok, a field commander and the right-hand man of Pol Pot...
...Although the KPNLF and asean might have preferred otherwise, the Khmer Rouge of course represented Cambodia, and Son Sann was invited as an observer...
...Peking would be embarrassed, too, if the U.N...
...This argues that Vietnam would be more agreeable to withdrawing its troops if the pretext for its invasion?Pol Pot's hegemony—were removed...
...Son Sann told me: "We have the same values as the United States and the American people...
...The ousted Pol Pot, from whose brutalities the North Vietnamese "liberated" the country, is scarcely more savory than his successor...
...leng Sary, Foreign Minister...
...The remainder of the Khmer Serai entered the KPNLF last July, and military and civilian recruits have been coming not only from Sihanouk's small Movement of National Liberation of Kampuchea (moulinka), but also in growing numbers from the Khmer Rouge and even the Heng Samrin government...
...He has also insisted that the most offensive Khmer Rouge leaders leave the country...
...We are your friends, but you have not, as of yet, acted as friends to us...
...The civilians in Front bases now total roughly 100,000, the troops some 5,000-6,000—a small force compared to the 30,000 Khmer Rouge and 200,000 Vietnamese soldiers...
...Badly timed intransigence could result in the loss of their seat at the UN to Heng Samrin...
...NEITHER POL POT NOR HENG SAMRIN An Alternative in Cambodia b™a^ Ever since the Soviet-backed Vietnamese invaded Cambodia in January 1979, the big dilemma for the West has been whom, if anyone, to support against the puppet regime of Heng Samrin...
...peacekeeping force to insure respect for international guarantees of Cambodia's sovereignty, territorial integrity and neutrality...
...After defeating President Lon Nol's armies in April 1975, his Chinese-supported Khmer Rouge proceeded to destroy and then reconstruct Democratic Kampuchea along its own gruesome Communist lines, devastating the once beautiful country with widespread famine, malnutrition and disease...
...The KPNLF traces its origin back to March5,1979, when five groups of ex-military officers who had escaped Pol Pot's terrors merged as the Khmer Liberation Armed Forces...
...That led to the gathering of refugees into small villages to facilitate the distribution of food and provide better security, as well as to reorganize the resistance within the country...
...The KPNLF has at least the tacit support, though, of the majority of the Cambodians, who would not choose either the Khmer Rouge or Heng Samrin in a free election, and of Sihanouk, who recently stated he would promote the 70-year-old Son Sann as the "third force" leader...
...and the dispatch of a U.N...
...Over one third of a population that had originally numbered 8 million people died...
...This July 13, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, in accordance with the provisions of the relevant U N resolutions, convened an international conference on Cambodia at the United Nations headquarters in New York...
...That being the case, neither the USSR nor any of its satellites wasamongthe83 nations in attendance...
...the convocation of an international conference, including the major powers, to examine and settle the problems created by the Vietnamese invasion...
...But in the interests of easing the transition to a non-Vietnamese government, he has said that he would agree to work with the Khmer Rouge if the KPNLF forces were well-equipped—a condition that implies receiving foreign financial assistance...
...The Khmer Rouge might eventually accept these seemingly unfavorable terms, for they know that their unpopularity at home is matched by their poor reputation abroad and consequently fear losing face...
...The Vietnamese, who pressed for a regional conference prior to the international parley, were not even symbolically invited to New York...
...Our hand would be strengthened in internal and external negotiations...
...Furthermore, the Chinese, who have been supplying the Khmer Rouge as well as non-Communist enemies of Vietnam with arms, have agreed in principle to Son Sann's conditions...
...They have been quietly organizing Cambodian civilians in bases near the Thai border, fielding troops against the Vietnamese invaders and, through their information offices in Washington, Paris and other capitals, drawing international attention to their dream of a sovereign Cambodia...
...auspicies...
...seat went to a Soviet-supplied Vietnamese protege...
...If we become stronger, we can increase our actions against the enemy and make life miserable for them...
...At a meeting I had with him...
Vol. 64 • July 1981 • No. 15
