Unlimited cease-fire to be implemented in Cambodia; foreign military assistance to stop.

Secretary-General Javier Perez de Cuellar on 26 June expressed gratification at the decision of members of the Supreme National Council (SNC) of Cambodia to implement an unlimited cease-fire and to stop receiving foreign military assistance.

The decision was taken at an SNC meeting in Pattaya, Thailand, from 24 to 26 June, under the chairmanship of Prince Norodom Sihanouk. The Secretary-General in his statement welcomed the final communique adopted at the meeting.

"This decision represents an important step towards the restoration of peace in Cambodia", Mr. Perez de Cuellar declared. He recalled that, in his report (A/45/605) to the last General Assembly on the situation in that South-East Asian country, he had expressed the hope that the SNC would promptly reach the compromises necessary to enable it to assume its role in the settlement process and that it would be able to agree as soon as possible to a voluntary cease-fire and moratorium on arms supplies.

The Secretary-General earnestly hoped that the Council would continue to work vigorously towards national reconciliation, so as to create a climate conducive to an early completion of the negotiating process and to the adoption of a comprehensive political settlement in the framework of the Paris Conference on Cambodia (PCC).

The Council is considered to be "a unique legitimate body" in which national sovereignty and unity would be enshrined during the transitional period.

A voluntary cease-fire had gone into effect in Cambodia beginning on I May 1991, following an appeal by Mr. Perez de Cuellar and the Foreign Ministers of France and Indonesia-the PCC's two CoChairmen.

In a 22 April joint statement, they expressed concern over reports of intensified fighting in Cambodia, recalling that both the Security Council and the Assembly had unanimously urged all parties to the conflict to exercise maximum self-restraint, so as to create a climate conducive to the achievement of a comprehensive political settlement.

The Secretary-General and the Co-Chairmen strongly appealed to "all parties to the conflict to observe a temporary cessation of hostilities" from the first of May at least until the conclusion of a meeting to be convened by the Co-Chairmen in jakarta with the members of the SNC. At that meeting, held from 2 to 4 June, the 26 November 1990 draft agreements (A/46/61) and other pending issues were discussed. The proposed agreements cover major aspects of a comprehensive political settlement for Cambodia.

On 6 May, the Secretary-General and the Co-Chairmen welcomed the voluntary cease-fire accepted by the parties in the conflict. The cease-fire was "a sign of the commitment by the parties concerned to reach a positive result", they stated.

A team, led by Major-General Timothy Dibuama, Military Adviser to the Secretary-General, was sent to the area to make an on-the-spot review of the situation.