Cambodia: voter registration a success; cease-fire violations continue.

The UN peace-keeping operation in Cambodia chalked up both successes and disappointments as it entered its second year, completing massive voter registration and repatriation processes despite ongoing cease-fire violations and demobilization problems.

Some 4.7 million persons were registered to vote during a three-month effort which began in October 1992, a "remarkable success" in the words of Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali. On 30 March, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) announced that the last of the Thai border camps, which over 18 years had sheltered nearly three quarters of a million Cambodian refugees, had been dosed.

Meanwhile, the refusal of the Party of Democratic Kampuchea (PDK) to participate fully in phase II of the peace process had made it impossible, the Secretary-General reported, to carry out the cantonment, disarmament and demobilization of the factions' armed forces, as required by the October 1991 Paris Agreements.

And reports of a growing climate of violence spawned from politically motivated acts of intimidation clouded continuing efforts to secure a peaceful settlement.

The Security Council on 8 March endorsed the decision of the Supreme National Council of Cambodia (SNC) that the election for a constituent assembly should be held from 23 to 27 May and urged all Cambodian parties to cooperate fully with the UN Transitional Authority in Cambodia (UNTAC) towards that end.

The Council has declared the SNC "the unique legitimate body and source of authority in which, throughout the transition period, the sovereignty, independence and unity of Cambodia are enshrined".

In unanimously adopting resolution 810 (1993), the Council called on UNTAC to continue to make every effort to create and maintain a neutral political environment conducive to the holding of free and fair elections.

All Cambodian parties were urged to help create in the minds of their followers tolerance for peaceful political competition and "to ensure adherence to the code of conduct during the forthcoming political campaign", which was to begin on 7 April. They were particularly urged to take all measures to ensure freedom of speech, assembly and movement, as well as fair access to the media for all registered political parties during the electoral campaign, and to reassure Cambodians that the balloting would be secret.

The Council demanded that all Cambodian parties end all acts of violence and threats committed on political or ethnic grounds. It further demanded that those parties safeguard the lives and security of UNTAC personal throughout Cambodia, and desist from all threats or intimidation against them.

Expressing its readiness to endorse the results of the election, provided that the UN certified it as free and fair, the Council called on all parties to abide by their commitment under the Paris Agreements.

Under the Agreements, Cambodians have the right to determine their own political future through free and fair election of a constituent assembly, which will then draft and approve a new Cambodian constitution and transform itself into a legislative assembly that will create a new government.

UNTAC--currently the third largest peace-keeping operation in UN history, following those for Somalia and the Congo--was established on 28 February 1992. As of 31 January, there were 20,874 international UNTAC staff members--military and civilian--from more than 100 countries serving throughout Cambodia's 21 provinces. On 24 February, it was reported that some 28 military and civilian personnel had died while serving with UNTAC, and 32 UNTAC members had suffered injuries as a result either of mine explosions or of hostile action by various Cambodian political parties.

Reports reviewed

The Council in March reviewed two progress reports of the Secretary-General on UNTAC.

A 25 January report (S/25124) covering UNTAC activities through 10 January stated that the voter registration drive UNTAC had begun in October 1992 had been a "remarkable success", with some 4.7 million voters registered. UNTAC would continue to make every effort to prepare for the holding of free and fair elections by May in all areas of Cambodia to which it had access. There had been considerable success in the repatriation process as well, the Secretary-General said.

During phase I of the peace process, the UN provided its good offices to facilitate the observance of the ceasefire by the parties. Phase II began on 13 June 1992.

The continuing existence of large and sometimes undisciplined armies, as well as attempts to improve their positions on the ground, had had an adverse impact on the security situation in Cambodia, the Secretary-General reported. Attacks on UNTAC personnel and helicopters had occurred, and there was a growing climate of violence resulting from politically motivated acts of intimidation.

The best way of overcoming the difficulties, he went on, was for all parties to remain actively involved in the peace process and engage in constructive dialogue within the SNC. The holding of a presidential election, in conjunction with constituent assembly elections, could contribute to national reconciliation and provide an essential element of stability during the rest of the transition period.

Serious problems

In the second report (S/25289) of 13 February, the Secretary-General stated that the peace process continued to encounter serious problems. SNC Chairman Prince Norodom Sihanouk had stated that he was unwilling to hold the presidential election before or at the same time as the constituent assembly elections. He wanted to wait for the adoption of a new constitution and hold the presidential election after such matters as the President's powers and term of office were decided. Therefore, preparations for such an election had been put on hold.

On the security front, the report said that a disturbing development had been the launching of military attacks by the Cambodian People's Armed Forces--the army of the Party of the State of Cambodia (SOC)--against the National Army of Democratic Kampuchea (NADK)--the armed forces of the PDK--in several districts. Those attacks went beyond the SOC's right to defend itself against any hostile action by the PDK.

In accordance with Council resolution 792 (1992) of 30 November, UNTAC had taken measures to prevent the supply of petroleum products to areas controlled by the PDK, since it had failed to comply with the military provisions of the Paris Agreements.

UNTAC was also doing its best to protect the natural resources of Cambodia, particularly timber, minerals and gems, and had appealed to neighbouring countries to assist in the implementation of the Council's moratorium on the sale of Cambodian timber and the export of gems. Despite UNTAC border controls to monitor the moratorium, numerous and large-scale violations by land and sea continued. The PDK had refused to allow checkpoints to be established within its controlled zone, thus defeating UNTAC's efforts to strengthen monitoring.

Despite PDK's uncooperative attitude, the Secretary-General stated, he thought it important to resist any pressure to exclude PDK representatives from the SNC. The framework of the Paris Agreements, despite the damage done by the failure of some signatories to fulfil their obligations, still offered the best hope for a solution to the problem of Cambodia.

Refusal

The Secretary-General told the press in Tokyo on 18 February that one of the parties--the Khmer Rouge--still refused to participate in the elections. They did not represent more than 10 per cent of the population and the territory they occupied was not more than 13 or 14 per cent. The UN hoped to convince the Khmer Rouge that it was "in their interest, in the interest of peace, in the interest of the Cambodian people" to participate in the elections. However, he said, the elections would be held even without their participation.

The UN would have a very heavy military presence when the balloting took place. It had "the capacity to overcome difficulty in case of any hostility from the Khmer Rouge".

The UN had trained more than 1,000 specialists "to take the mines out of the roads and out of the fields", he said. Millions of mines remain scattered across Cambodia; nearly 7,000 had been cleared from over a million square metres, an UNTAC spokesman said on 26 January. In addition, almost 4,000 unexploded ordnance had been destroyed.

Special Representative Yasushi Akashi said at a 9 March SNC meeting in Phnom Penh that, although fighting in Cambodia had decreased recently, much remained to be done for the creation of a neutral political environment in preparation for the elections. He stressed the importance of a political environment in which "clashes" among the 20 Cambodian parties were confined to "ideas and words". Physical violence should have no place at all in a civilized political campaign, he stated.

Mr. Akashi observed that considerable restrictions on freedom of expression and movement remained in many areas of Cambodia. He informed the SNC of his proposal to the UN Centre for Human Rights that it assume an operational presence in Cambodia later this year.

At a press conference following the meeting, Mr. Akashi said he had also discussed with the SNC a list of activities forbidden during the campaign, including public opinion polls. On the preservation of Cambodia's natural resources, he said he had proposed a 30 per cent reduction in the volume of sawed timber as compared to 1991, a proposal which two of the Cambodian parties had accepted. On the exploitation and export of minerals and gems, the SNC had adopted a global moratorium, with emphasis on commercial companies using large equipment.

On 7 January, Mr. Akashi signed a directive establishing procedures for the prosecution of persons responsible for human rights violations. The directive empowered UNTAC to indict individuals and prosecute cases using the legal system of the appropriate existing administrative structure.

On 12 January, a UN spokesman reported that UNTAC had made the first arrest of a member of the Phnom Penh Government party for his "alleged involvement" in an attack on an opposition party member. That action was taken under the directive signed by Mr. Akashi. The arrested person would face prosecution by a UN magistrate. On 28 January, the UNTAC prosecutor brought before the Phnom Penh Court an NADK soldier arrested in connection with the killing of 15 people in a village on 2 7 December 1992.

An |appalling assault'

Thirty-five Vietnamese-speaking fishermen, women and children on Tonle Sap Lake near the provincial capital of Siem Reap were killed and 24 others injured on 10 March when an unidentified armed group attacked a floating village with AK-47 rifles, machine guns and rocket launchers, an UNTAC spokesman said on 16 March.

In a statement, Mr. Akashi called the act "appalling" and "most heinous", and said it was the latest in a series of bloody and murderous assaults by bands of armed men against unarmed civilians, often in their sleep. UNTAC would "strongly" press local authorities to track down the perpetrators and bring the guilty parties to justice. UNTAC would assist the authorities in that regard.

On 26 March, UNTAC condemned "in the strongest possible terms" the killing on 24 March of eight ethnic Vietnamese boat people in the Kompong Chhnang Province by NADK. UNTAC said the attack involved 10 to 20 assailants.

Establish the facts

Mr. Akashi said UNTAC would continue its efforts to establish the facts of foreign presence in the country The distinction between foreign forces, as provided for in the Paris Agreements, and foreign residents and immigrants was clear. People born in Cambodia of foreign descent fell into a separate category UNTAC condemned any effort by any Cambodian party to blur the distinction between those categories. Any party which advocated violence against individuals on the basis of their ethnic background should also be condemned. UNTAC called on all Cambodian parties to unite in condemning "this horrible act and those who committed it", Mr. Akashi concluded.

On 31 March, UNTAC reported that large numbers of ethnic Vietnamese were moving south from Tonle Sap Lake towards Viet Nam; as many as 7,000 were seen heading towards the Vietnamese border by boat.

UNTAC had been watching the movement with considerable concern and had urged the existing administrative structures to take all steps to maintain law and order. Many of the ethnic Vietnamese had been living in Cambodia for generations and had probably been registered to vote.

An UNTAC spokesman on 1 February reported the "largest cease-fire violation" since UNTAC began its operation on 15 March 1992, as the Cambodian People's Armed Forces (CPAF) launched a series of attacks on the NADK in several provinces, focussing on two broad areas--one in Battambang province and another in Kompong Thom and Preah Vihear provinces.

In a 15 January statement (S/25133) addressed to the Security Council President, the Foreign Ministers of the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN) expressed concern over the intensified political harassment and even assassinations perpetrated against personalities and workers of various political parties in Cambodia. ASEAN members are Brunei Darussalam, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore and Thailand.

Expressing "grave concern" over the recent spate of killings of residents of Vietnamese descent, the members warned that that could "eventually lead to renewed large-scale fighting in Cambodia" They called on all Cambodian parties to cooperate with UNTAC and contribute to ensure a peaceful and neutral political environment so that there could be "free and fair elections" as stipulated in the Paris Agreements.

Special Representative Akashi on 25 February expressed disappointment at the performance of donors in disbursing their pledges to Cambodia. Some $880 million had been pledged in Tokyo on 22 June 1992 at the Ministerial Conference on the Rehabilitation and Reconstruction of Cambodia.

Last camp closed

UN High Commissioner for Refugees Sadako Ogata on 30 March officially closed Site 2--the last of seven camps on the Thai border for Cambodian refugees--a year after UNHCR had begun a voluntary repatriation programme for some 375,000 Cambodians. The camp held some 218,000 refugees and was the largest Cambodian community outside Phnom Penh.

At ceremonies at Site 2, Mrs. Ogata thanked Thailand for providing sanctuary to more than 700,000 Cambodians over the past 18 years of war and exile, and said that UNHCR would accompany the returnees on their way home. More than 236,000 Cambodians from the Thai camps have been resettled outside Cambodia, mainly in the United States, Canada and Australia, over the past 18 years.

"We will be there to help you in the first steps of your new life in Cambodia", Mrs. Ogata stated, referring to quick impact projects designed to ease the return of the refugees.

The repatriation operation was expected to be completed by mid-April. It was regarded, along with the registration of 4.75 million voters, as a main success in the fulfilment of the Paris Agreements. With respect to the resettlement sites, all four parties to the Paris Agreements have scrupulously respected the freedom of choice of the returnees.