By Ian MacKinnon in Bangkok
Published: September 7 2009
Cambodian prime minister Hun Sen (pictured) thumbed his nose at the international community on Monday, railing against further indictments at the United Nations-backed Khmer Rouge court before pulling the plug on a World Bank programme aimed at resolving land disputes.
The premier, a former low-level Khmer Rouge cadre, reiterated warnings that the country could be thrust back into fresh civil war if the Khmer Rouge genocide court indicts more suspects.
“If you tried [more suspects] without taking national unification and peace into consideration, and if war occurred, killing between 200,000 and 300,000 people more, who would be responsible for it? he asked. “I have achieved this work [peace]. I will not let anybody destroy it.”
Hun Sen’s comments came after the court opened the door to further war crimes prosecutions for the killings of up to 1.7m Cambodians by the regime of Pol Pot.
Campaigners argue that the net should be widened and say the prime minister is trying to shield former members of the regime who are now part of his government.
Ou Virak, president of the Cambodian Centre for Human Rights, dismissed the prime minister’s comments and said there was “no chance” that trying a few more people would lead to instability.
Only five of the surviving Khmer Rouge’s leaders stand accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity.
The first trial of Kaing Guek Eav, 66, the commander of the notorious Tuol Sleng torture centre, where up to 16,000 people died, is still under way, with hearings due to be concluded in November. Better known as Duch, the former maths teacher has accepted responsibility for his actions and has asked for the harshest punishment when the tribunal judges reach their verdict expected by next April.
Once complete, the court plans to prosecute Noun Chea, the former Khmer Rouge ideologue; Khieu Samphan, the nominal head of state; Ieng Sary, the former foreign minister; and his wife, Ieng Thirith.
But the tribunal of Cambodian and international judges, set up in 2006 to try the regime’s most senior leaders, has been locked in a nine-month stalemate after prosecutors said they had enough evidence to indict more suspects.
Last week, in an effort to break the deadlock, the court ruled to allow the international prosecutor to make submissions to the tribunal’s investigating judges, who will decide on further indictments.
Separately on Monday, the prime minister said Cambodia had pulled out of a World Bank project aimed at settling land disputes, raising further concerns about forced evictions in the impoverished south-east Asian country.
Hun Sen said the World Bank’s administrative procedures were too complicated and Cambodia no longer wished to be part of the project.
There were 20,000 evictions in Phnom Penh alone last year, fuelled by a land price boom and difficulties over land titles.
Critics said the decision would escalate land-grabbing and hobble action against poverty.
Published: September 7 2009
Cambodian prime minister Hun Sen (pictured) thumbed his nose at the international community on Monday, railing against further indictments at the United Nations-backed Khmer Rouge court before pulling the plug on a World Bank programme aimed at resolving land disputes.
The premier, a former low-level Khmer Rouge cadre, reiterated warnings that the country could be thrust back into fresh civil war if the Khmer Rouge genocide court indicts more suspects.
“If you tried [more suspects] without taking national unification and peace into consideration, and if war occurred, killing between 200,000 and 300,000 people more, who would be responsible for it? he asked. “I have achieved this work [peace]. I will not let anybody destroy it.”
Hun Sen’s comments came after the court opened the door to further war crimes prosecutions for the killings of up to 1.7m Cambodians by the regime of Pol Pot.
Campaigners argue that the net should be widened and say the prime minister is trying to shield former members of the regime who are now part of his government.
Ou Virak, president of the Cambodian Centre for Human Rights, dismissed the prime minister’s comments and said there was “no chance” that trying a few more people would lead to instability.
Only five of the surviving Khmer Rouge’s leaders stand accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity.
The first trial of Kaing Guek Eav, 66, the commander of the notorious Tuol Sleng torture centre, where up to 16,000 people died, is still under way, with hearings due to be concluded in November. Better known as Duch, the former maths teacher has accepted responsibility for his actions and has asked for the harshest punishment when the tribunal judges reach their verdict expected by next April.
Once complete, the court plans to prosecute Noun Chea, the former Khmer Rouge ideologue; Khieu Samphan, the nominal head of state; Ieng Sary, the former foreign minister; and his wife, Ieng Thirith.
But the tribunal of Cambodian and international judges, set up in 2006 to try the regime’s most senior leaders, has been locked in a nine-month stalemate after prosecutors said they had enough evidence to indict more suspects.
Last week, in an effort to break the deadlock, the court ruled to allow the international prosecutor to make submissions to the tribunal’s investigating judges, who will decide on further indictments.
Separately on Monday, the prime minister said Cambodia had pulled out of a World Bank project aimed at settling land disputes, raising further concerns about forced evictions in the impoverished south-east Asian country.
Hun Sen said the World Bank’s administrative procedures were too complicated and Cambodia no longer wished to be part of the project.
There were 20,000 evictions in Phnom Penh alone last year, fuelled by a land price boom and difficulties over land titles.
Critics said the decision would escalate land-grabbing and hobble action against poverty.
2 comments:
Once again, I ask where would the instability come from if more Khmer Rouge leaders were prosecuted?
Is the PM suggesting that these leaders despite the conflict being over for more than 20 years still control money, weapons and men and could threaten the government's hold on the country?
This would suggest that the men must be young and the weapons must be new as middle aged soldiers and rusting AK47s from the civil war era wouldn't be a great threat to the government with its modern weapons and trained armed forces.
I would request the PM to not scare the population. If there is a threat to the stability of the country from these former fighters then they should be dealt with according to the law and constitution of Cambodia. We should not be held in fear of these whispered and undefined 'threats' that imply the PM lacks the power and authority to control his own armed forces.
Only Hun Sen can cause instability because he control more than 80% of the army. I think he worry that he is next to be tried.
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