West washes its hands of Cambodia

Realistic hopes of restoring the democratically elected first prime minister of Cambodia who was deposed in a coup were abandoned over the weekend, as Western leaders entrusted the conflict to the Association of South- East Nations (Asean), effectively washing their hands of the problem.

The Asean Regional Forum (ARF), a gathering of foreign ministers from Asia and the West, agreed yesterday that Asean countries should take the lead in mediating between Hun Sen, the so-called "second prime minister" of Cambodia, and Prince Norodom Ranariddh, the "first prime minister" whom he deposed in a bloody coup on 5 July.

Privately, diplomats at the meeting in Malaysia acknowledged Hun Sen's seizure of power is a fait accompli, that Prince Ranariddh's role is over, and the best that can be hoped for is a peaceful build-up to elections planned for next May.

Jacques Poos, the Foreign Minister of Luxembourg, which holds the presidency of the European Union, announced that Cambodia had accepted an offer of 9m ecus to pay for monitoring of the elections, and expressed optimism over Cambodia. "They [Asean] have asked us to keep a low profile," he said, "but there's a real chance that events will improve for the better in Cambodia. We must give them a chance to take their message to Hun Sen".

"You can't have mediation by 20 countries," said Nicholas Burns, spokesman for the US Secretary of State, Madeleine Albright, who discussed the problem with foreign ministers from Asean and China, Japan, Russia and the European Union.

The governments of Asean, which include Indonesia, Malay-sia, Singapore and Thailand, played a central role in framing the Paris Peace Accord, which laid the groundwork for Cambodia's first elections, sponsored by the United Nations, in 1993. The fragile coalition government which emerged was destroyed three weeks ago, when "bodyguards" affiliated to Hun Sen's Cambodian People's Party (CPP) battled in Phnom Penh with supporters of Prince Ranariddh's Funcinpec party.

But Asean's credibility as a peace-maker is undermined by several factors. First, one of its nine members is Vietnam, which installed Hun Sen after its invasion of Cambodia in 1979, and still supports him. Second, Asean works on principles of "non-interference" in the internal affairs of foreign countries, not a strong basis for pro- active diplomacy.

Above all, Asean has shown itself willing to tolerate human rights violations in Burma which, to the West's dismay, joined the organisation this week as a full member.