To:         The Honorable Benjamin A. Gilman
              Chairman, The House International Relations Committee

Dear Mr. Chairman:

          The events of the past two (2) weeks are quite disturbing for Cambodia and our efforts to advance the rule of law and respect of human rights in that country. I hope you received copy of the letter that the Honorable Rohrabacher wrote to Assistant Secretary of State for democracy, human rights and labor before he went to Asia.
          In Washington, DC the Cambodian Study Group, under the chairmanship of Ambassador Morton Abramovitz met for the first time to look into the latest development. Peter Brooks and Prof. Naranhkiri Tith (who was elected WCC Chairman of the Board last October) were present. It turned out that the State Department was still working with Hun Sen despite Under Secretary Stanley Roth's declaration of last October in the Senate that the United States could not tolerate the seize of power by forces. The State Department did not consider the events of last July as a coup d'etat and has instead sought to adopt a soft landing approach to legitimize Hun Sen's regime (Please see Prof. Naranhkiri Tith's letter attached).
          On the other hand, Sam Raingsi who is one of the four leaders of the Union of Cambodian Democrats (UCD) went to Cambodia against the objections of other leaders and declared he could work with Hun Sen for peace. His action was personal and could weaken the efforts of the UCD to force Hun Sen to abide by the results of the 1993 UN sponsored election. At the same time, we learned that the US Embassy staff in Bangkok had pressured Raingsi not to talk about the March grenade attacks that killed and wounded more than 20 peoples of which Ron Abney from the IRI was also a victim.
          The only alternative for us now is to go ahead with putting Hun Sen and his associates on the personae non grata list because of their crimes since the July 5^th coup. WCC members and friends of Cambodia very much cherished your letter of November 12, 1997 and we would like to thank you for your strongest support in the quest of a true democracy in Cambodia.

Pek Thov Tan
President of WCC