Clinton visits Cambodian genocide museum

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton (L) listens to Youk Chhang, the director of the Documentation Center of Cambodia, as she stands in front of photos of victims during her visit to Khmer Rouge notorious security prison Tuol Sleng (S-21) in Phnom Penh November 1, 2010. From 1975-1979 an estimated 17,000 people were imprisoned, tortured and killed in S-21, once a high school turned into an interrogation centre, during the Khmer Rouge regime. Clinton's visit to Cambodia is the first by a U.S. Secretary of State since 2003.
REUTERS/Chor Sokunthea (CAMBODIA - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST)

Lachlan Carmichael
November 1, 2010
Sydney Morning Herald
AFP

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has expressed hope for accountability for atrocities committed by the brutal Khmer Rouge regime during an emotional visit to Cambodia's genocide museum.

A sombre-looking Clinton studied black-and-white photos of gaunt-faced prisoners on display, along with dozens of skulls of victims and paintings of people being tortured, during her visit on Monday.

She later described the tour of Tuol Sleng - the main torture centre of the Khmer Rouge regime in the late 1970s - as a "very disturbing experience," but said she was impressed that Cambodia was confronting its dark history.

Advertisement: Story continues below "Countries that are held prisoner to their past never break those chains and build the kind of future your children deserve," she told an audience of young Cambodians at a town hall-style meeting in the capital Phnom Penh.

"I was very proud to see firsthand the willingness of your country to face that past bravely and honestly."

Thousands of inmates were taken from the jail - now a major tourist attraction - for execution in a nearby orchard that served as a "Killing Field".

Clinton, who was visiting Cambodia as part of a two-week Asia trip, said Cambodia's UN-backed war crimes tribunal "is bringing some of the people who caused so much suffering to justice ... The work of the tribunal is painful but it is necessary to ensure a lasting peace."

Cambodia is opposing a third trial of regime leaders, but in comments written in the museum guestbook, Clinton appeared to back further Khmer Rouge prosecutions.

"In memory of the tragic suffering of the people of Cambodia and in hope that there will (be) a future of peace, prosperity and greater awareness of all that needs to be done to move the country forward, including trials, accountability and reconciliation," she wrote.

In July, a UN-backed war crimes court sentenced Tuol Sleng prison chief Kaing Guek Eav, better known as Duch, to 30 years in jail for overseeing the deaths of 15,000 men, women and children in the late 1970s.

Last month the court indicted four top regime leaders for war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide in connection with the deaths of up to two million people from starvation, overwork and execution between 1975 and 1979.

Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen told visiting United Nations chief Ban Ki-moon last week that a third case was "not allowed" because it could plunge the country back into civil war.

Ban reacted by saying it was up to the court to decide whether to pursue more Khmer Rouge cadres.

Hun Sen was once a mid-level Khmer Rouge member himself before turning against the movement.

Led by "Brother Number One" Pol Pot, the Khmer Rouge was responsible for one of the worst horrors of the 20th century, wiping out nearly a quarter of Cambodia's population through starvation, overwork and executions.

Clinton, on the first visit to Cambodia by a US secretary of state since 2003, was due to meet Hun Sen and Foreign Minister Hor Namhong later on Monday.

She "will stress the importance of a credible opposition and respect for human rights" and "the need to fight corruption and improve transparency in all parts of the government", the US embassy said in a statement.

She will also meet with members of the opposition "to highlight the importance of a vibrant political arena where all voices are heard," it said.

Opposition leader Sam Rainsy, who lives in self-imposed exile in Europe, faces a total of 12 years in prison if he returns to Cambodia after being convicted in absentia of uprooting border markings and publishing a false map of the border with Vietnam.

Rights groups have also urged Clinton to take a stand against Cambodian threats to close the local UN human rights office.

On Sunday, Clinton toured Cambodia's Angkor Wat temples in the northwestern tourist hub of Siem Reap and visited a shelter and rehabilitation centre for victims of sex trafficking.