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December 5, 1997
PRESS RELEASE
LETTER OF CAMBODIAN CO-PRIME MINISTERS
TO PRESIDENT CLINTON
Following is the letter dated November 27, 1997 of H.E.Mr. Ung Huot, First Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, and H.E.Samdech Hun Sen, Second Prime Minister, addressed to President Bill Clinton:
H.E.Mr. Bill Clinton
President of the United States of America
Washington, D.C.
Mr. President,
The Royal Government of Cambodia has just been informed that Your Secretary of State, H.E.Madam Madeleine Albright had designated the Khmer Rouge as one of the thirty foreign terrorist organizations. We are grateful that finally, the United States government defined the Khmer Rouge not just as a Cambodian, but also as an international terrorist organization to be watched and stopped everywhere.
You may be aware, Mr. President, that for three decades now the Cambodian people have tasted the terror and horror of the Khmer Rouge genocidal crimes which culminated with the mass murder between 1975 and 1979 of the Cambodian people in "the Killing fields". About three millions out of seven millions Cambodians perished and yet the Khmer Rouge organization and their leadership are still active. Although much diminished, they can strike with small scale terrorist acts against innocent Cambodian people and foreigners alike as they did in the past in order to put the blame on the Royal Government, to destabilize it and, they hope, to bring it down eventually.
You must be interested to know, Mr. President, that the Khmer Rouge terrorist organization, as we know it, put up at least two different faces. One hardcore, bloody hand group still remains under the current leadership of Pol Pot, Khieu Samphan, Ta Mok etc. Another group put up a more human face, like Sam Rainsy and others, made up of a network of younger generation of leftist Cambodian expatriates who pretend to be the champions of democracy so as to get political and financial support from western countries. During the Cambodian peace talks of late 80 and early 90, their common war game strategy was: fight-fight, talk-talk. As the Khmer Rouge constituted the backbone of the former coalition government of democratic Kampuchea (CGDK), they occupied the Cambodian United Nations seat with the support of the United States and other regional powers. They were forced into a negotiated peace settlement because their sponsors would no longer support a protracted and losing war game. They accepted to sign the Paris Peace Agreements of 1991 only to buy time, to reorganize themselves for a longer military struggle. They were using the peace talks to gain political legitimacy only to destroy the peace process and the Paris Peace Agreements by other means. UNTAC's presence provided them with a golden opportunity to redeploy their forces, some went underground and operated in the cities and towns to kill UNTAC forces, to kill foreigners and assassinate Cambodian political workers in order to destroy the electoral process or at least to put the blame on the incumbent government. The 1993 election were not flawless and the election results were not uncontestable, leading to the King's formula of the current coalition government headed by the first and second Prime Ministers. The Khmer Rouge redouble their attempts to destroy the Royal Government and accuse everyone of having violated the Paris Peace Agreements to justify their ongoing guerrilla warfare.
There were indeed premeditations and preparations when they were quick to blame Hun Sen for any kidnapping or assassination of innocent people or for grenade throwing into the crowd, and to predict that Cambodia could not join ASEAN and that general election could not be organized in 1998. We remember that they provoked an attack on the house of a police general in the evening of 17 June 1997, sending a rocket into the backyard of the residence of the United States Ambassador, giving a warning to Ambassador Quinn to stop the visit of Madame Madeleine Albright to Cambodia scheduled for the end of June on her way to Hong Kong, because Madame Albright, known for her outspoken condemnation of human rights violations, were scheduled to visit Toul Sleng museum of Genocide.
Now, war weapons and Khmer Rouge soldiers had been infiltrated into the city in great numbers, they were almost ready to strike. But again, because of poor leadership and without the support of their own army the planned coup collapsed and the Prince secretly fled the country, on 4th July, ahead of the actual fighting and blamed Samdech Hun Sen for it. Was it Samdech Hun Sen or Prince Ranariddh who had prepared a coup d'Etat with the military support of Khmer Rouge soldiers?
With all the evidence now available to prove that Prince Ranariddh was involved in and responsible for his own demise, for the reckless and corrupt conduct of the Royal Government, for the escalation of tension which broke out into a brief fighting on 5-6 July and subsequent fighting along the border with Thailand, Prince Ranariddh cannot deny his association with the outlawed Khmer Rouge, and his smuggling of war weapons into the city to stage a coup. He cannot pretend to be an innocent person and above the law. His Khmer Rouge associates with a human face cannot continue to fool overseas Cambodians and foreign governments that they are fighting for freedom and democracy. The democratic process, especially the upcoming general election in Cambodia can not be held hostage by one or two fake champions of democracy who act as figurehead for the Khmer Rouge terrorist organization and who depend heavily for their survival on the Khmer Rouge financial, political and military support. These peoples must be denounced, condemned and brought to trial as soon as possible as members of a terrorist organization. Democracy in Cambodia will grow faster and to full blossoms, without their bloody hands.
Mr. President,
The United States government cannot ignore the above well known facts and continue to support, against United States laws, a group of expatriate Cambodians who are known to have had along association with the Khmer Rouge organization. The United States government should not forget its past mistakes of supporting a civil war game in Cambodia in which the Khmer Rouge were the backbone on the battlefield as well as on the political and diplomatic fronts. The results were the horror of "the Killing Fields".
Another Khmer Rouge political game is to demonize Hun Sen while the real devil is the Khmer Rouge in disguise. It would be a disaster if the United States interests happened to coincide with that of the Khmer Rouge terrorist organization. We do hope that the United States administration and some US influential institutions will not unconsciously be brought to serve the strategic interests of the Khmer Rouge and bring another tragedy to the Cambodian people.
The Royal Government of Cambodia would be most grateful to the United States government if help could be provided, according to US laws, to set up an international criminal tribunal and to bring to trial the Khmer Rouge leadership while they are still alive. We should not forget, nor delay, nor avoid taking this historic responsibility.
Mr. President,
We apologize for taking much of your precious time by sending you this long letter we deemed it necessary, because we have seen and we are seeing the Khmer Rouge interests being served by the United States in many aspects and also because we know that you need a more balanced view of what really happened in Cambodia. Recently, we all have heard Pol Pot denying responsibility for the killing fields and blaming it on the Vietnamese. We deeply regret the recent decision of the US Congress to suspend US aid to Cambodia for fiscal year 1998 and we are sure that the Khmer Rouge are the only one to be happy about it and to welcome it.
Mr. President,
Because the vital interests of the Cambodian people are involved here, we are taking the liberty of sending copies of this letter to Madame Madeleine Albright, US Secretary of State, to H.E.Mr. Kofi Annan, UN Secretary General and to all UN Security Council Members in order to draw their attention to the danger of the Khmer Rouge war game in Cambodia.
May we avail ourselves of this opportunity to express our deep gratitude for your help and assistance you provided to the Cambodian people in their reconstruction efforts and to renew to you, Mr. President, the assurances of our highest consideration.
Ung Huot Hun Sen
First Prime Minister and Second Prime Minister
Minister of Foreign Affairs
and International Cooperation