Pol Pot flees yet again

Whether these Khmer leaders will suffer the same fate as former KR defence minister Son Sen and his family, who were shot down by Pol Pot before his great escape, is the question doing the rounds. Obviously the discredited KR chief has not satiated his thirst for blood. Accounts of how he ordered cars to drive over former aide Son Sen and the 11 family members on Wednesday are reminiscent of the festival of violence he unleashed in the seventies, memories of which still are still etched into the national psyche of Cambodia.

Obviously, King Norodom Sihanouk8217;s refusal to grant a pardon to Pol Potearlier in the week is what led the ailing Pol Pot to summarily cut short the discussions leading up to a surrender, which would have presumably ushered in much-needed peace in the strife-torn country.

Sihanouk had no objections, however, to continuing talks with Khieu Samphan, and the two other top rebels, Son Sen and Nuon Chea, provided the two Prime Ministers were keen on it. Son Sen of course was declared a spy8217; and executed by Pol Pot, while the whereabouts of Nuon Chea are not known. The King had even granted a pardon late last year to Pol Pot8217;s former confidante Ieng Sary, the man whom he had once likened to Joseph Goebbels, on the request of Prince Nordom Ranariddh and Second prime minister Hun Sen as part of a pact which would allow his followers to join the Government.

But Pol Pot and Ta Mok, nicknamed The Butcher8217;, were cast in a different mould, according to him. Describing them as quot;the biggest criminals in the history of Cambodia8221;, the King categorically refused to compromise. The question now is, who will provide refuge to Pol Pot and his henchmen?

The Thai Government has already turned the heat on, which is why the Khmer leader had to flee the jungle outpost of Anlong Veng on the Cambodian-Thai border. Meanwhile, China, which had in the Seventies supported the Khmer Rouge, said last week that there was no question of it granting political asylum to its former comrade-in-arms8217; Pol Pot.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Cui Tiankai said: quot;We have no relations at all with the Khmer Rouge, so there is no question of giving him or anybody else from that organisation political asylum.8221;

It remains to be seen whether Beijing lives up to its diplomatic protestations of neutrality.

But what of the rest of the 2,000 hardliners who had congregated in the jungle stronghold of Anlong Veng, hatching plots to fight the coalition government in Phnom Penh which came to power after the UN-backed polls in 1993?

Meanwhile, what is more worrying than even the rebel threat from outside the country, is the bitter feud raging in the corridors of power within Phnom Penh. But however acrimonious their relationship may be, neither of Cambodia8217;s co-prime ministers can dispense with each other. The compulsions that keep Norodom Ranariddh and Hun Sen tied to each other8217;s apron strings are as much economic as political. Having now been assured of a place within the Asean, Cambodia now has to gear up its economy with lightning speed.

Despite the economic ceasefire, however, the standoff in the political arena continues. With the next election to the National Assembly barely a year away, all indications point towards an inconclusive outcome.

The problem is that under the formula devised by the United Nations in 1993, the government must have a two-thirds majority among the 120 seats. Since neither party 8212; the royalist Funcinpec or the Cambodian People8217;s Party 8212; has any real chance of winning 80 seats, what appears imminent is a coalition, much like the one that emerged after the 1993 poll, when both won fewer than 60 seats.

What this means is, the Cambodian people are destined to live on the edge, as they have been doing for decades now.