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| Published in Washington, D.C. March 30, 1998 |
Cambodian prince returns amid fears of 'revolution'
By Richard S. Ehrlich
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
PHNOM PENH, Cambodia
Prince Norodom Ranariddh's returns to this war-torn nation today amid fears that he may be assassinated or arrested in connection with the army's fresh assault on Pol Pot and Khmer Rouge guerrillas.
The prince, recently convicted and then pardoned of arms smuggling by the country's tightly controlled courts, plans to run in the national elections in July. If he is not allowed to compete, one key backer said, Cambodia will erupt in a bloody "revolution."
"I am the one who is negotiating with the Ministry of Interior about the prince's return," Ranariddh's close adviser, parliament member Ahmad Yahya, said in an interview.
"If they want to kill Ranariddh, just remember God will know about it, and the bad guy will go down in the end."
Mr. Yahya said the goal of Ranariddh's faction-riddled Funcinpec party "is not violence." But if the election is not seen to be a fair contest between the candidates, "Then the people will not be happy, and there will be a revolution again."
Mr. Yahya, sitting in the rebuilt party headquarters, added, "We know they want to put many traps, but we are humans, and if we are smarter than the trap, we can get away from the trap."
The prince fled Cambodia in July 1997, just before Hun Sen sent tanks into the streets of the capital to crush the prince's supporters and strip him of his post as joint prime minister. Hun Sen then threatened to jail the prince for conspiring with Pol Pot's Khmer Rouge guerrillas and smuggling weapons into this violence-wracked nation.
Under international pressure, Hun Sen's courts arranged a trial, conviction and pardon for the prince, clearing the way for the international fugitive to return to Cambodia today.
But the prince's future now is threatened by fresh military clashes in northern Cambodia, reportedly centered around Pol Pot's former base at Anlong Veng.
Sketchy reports from Anlong Veng describe a government offensive against the village, resulting in refugees fleeing the fighting and a new uncertainty over the whereabouts of Pol Pot.
Pol Pot had been reportedly under house arrest since one of his hard-line Khmer Rouge cadres, the one-legged "butcher" Ta Mok, mutinied several months ago.
Ranariddh's troops had been fighting Hun Sen's forces in the same area, and were getting help from some Khmer Rouge factions. There are fears that Hun Sen may decide to re-arrest Ranariddh and charge him with taking part in the civil war against the regime.
"Under the law, Ranariddh can be banned from the election if he is linked to armed insurgents," noted the American-owned Phnom Penh Post newspaper. Article six of the Political Party Law states that anyone who has their own personal army and autonomous zone cannot be a candidate in an election.
Mr. Yahya insisted the prince's troops are no longer fighting against Hun Sen. "But I don't think we are going to lay down arms easily, because when you lay down arms, they kill you easily. Look how many people they killed on July 5 and 6."
More than 40 supporters of the prince perished in the two days of street fighting that drove Ranariddh from power.
Mr. Yahya said Ranariddh's forces would "surrender" if they received a blanket amnesty for two top military commanders who were also convicted during the prince's trial. Otherwise, the bloodshed may escalate.
"We appreciate very much the way the Congress, Senate, and U.S. government are helping us with moral support and political support," Mr. Yahya said.
"But we will need military support if the government here is not serious about the election and continues to kill Funcinpec supporters."
Ranariddh, born in 1944, was educated in France, where he earned a doctorate in international law. He was placed under house arrest in 1970 by Gen. Lon Nol, who staged a pro-American coup.
The situation worsened when communist guerrilla leader Pol Pot seized power in 1975. Ranariddh lived in exile until December 1978, when Vietnam invaded his homeland and ousted Pol Pot.
During the 1980s, the prince got financing by Washington and other Western governments to lead his supporters in a loose alliance with Pol Pot to resist Vietnam's decade-long occupation.
He parlayed his popularity into a victory in a U.N.-supervised election in 1993. But flaws in the election and the narrowness of the margin forced him to share power with the Vietnamese-installed prime minister, Hun Sen.
Today, most Cambodians suffer tremendous poverty, confusion, alienation and anger at the seemingly endless warfare and politicking. As a result, it is not clear if Ranariddh can win the next election against Hun Sen.