News-Info-Alerts

To: ALL

From: Bob Necci & Carol Hrdlicka, Andi Wolos
(POW-MIA FaxNetwork)

Re: Cambodian Leaders Quarrel Over Pol Pot

Date: June 27, 1997

In a nation divided by its Co-Premier leadership and Princely in-absentia figurehead, one of the co-premiers, Hun Sen, has publicly rejected a peace plan that was offered by the fractured Khmers Rouges.

Hun Sen rejected the deal because it was too narrow in its scope and failed to account satisfactorily for the turn-over of war criminal Pol Pot, who along with Khieu Samphan, masterminded the Killing Fields policy that devastated Cambodia. He also requires the release of 5 negotiators who were taken prisoner by the Khmers last February.

Hun Sen has recently claimed that Pol Pot may indeed still be in power and that anyone turned over may be an imposter. The name CIL-HI came up during this discussion. Hun Sen has requested that the Central Identification Lab be called in to use DNA for identification should the Khmers claim Pol Pot died and turn over a set of remains as proof of his death.

The political aspects are mind boggling. But one of the major obstacles is this situation is -

Co-Premier Hun Sen wants Khieu Samphan tried alongside Pol Pot for war criems.

Co-Premier Prince Norodom Ranariddh (son of King Norodom Sihanouk) wants to offer Samphan amnesty in return for turning over Pol Pot.

King Norodom Sihanouk, who has no power but is a reigning figurehead in Cambodia, and who has been living in China for some time, will not grant amnesty to Samphan unless both Co-Premiers are in agreement.

Samphan, for his part, seems to be holding the bargaining chip in that he is apparently a major player in whether Pol Pot is turned over. Pol Pot is currently, according to recent reports, being held in Anlong Veng, the Khmers Rouges stronghold in northern Cambodia.

Should Samphan acquire amnesty, it would be an amazing coup for the man. Remember, it was Samphan's thesis that provided the game plan for turning Cambodia into a labor/agrarian nation. It was Samphan's thesis that became the play-book on how to empty the cities, destroy the 'elite' and educated, remove the populace to the country and enslave them. And was Samphan who for 30 years, loyally remained by the side of Pol Pot while the mass-murderer inflicted one of the singular most devastating genocides against a people in modern history.