From: kiri.tith@wccpd.org

Dear All:

Thanks to the new agreement (see attachment) between Hun Sen and Ranaridh hammered out by Sihanouk the State Department and Japan, a new coalition government is now in place. It looks very good on the surface. Will it work? In my opinion it will not work. Because the underlying cause of instability is till there. That underlying cause is mainly the lack of a clean and impartial justice system, and a credible and efficient civil and military administration. Corruption will continue and Hun Sen can any time reverse his decision on any of or all the components of the recent agreement. In other words there is no rule of law and no respect of human dignity.

The worse part of this agreement is that now the Hun Sen-dominated government will be admitted into the UN and ASEAN. Once Hun Sen is in it is difficult to get him out. And once he is in he can do away with all the agreements without any problem, because there is no accountability mechanism whereby Hun Sen can be punished if he reneges on any or all the components of the agreement. In other words the reign of injustice and impunity continues unabated in Cambodia.

Another bad outcome of this agreement is that Ranaridh is letting Hun Sen off the hook of justice as indicated in resolutions 533 and 309. It is now more difficult to argue for Senate Resolution 309 thanks to Ranaridh's stupidity. WCC wishes with all our heart that this new accord would work for the sake of the long suffering Cambodian people. But past experiences about Hun Sen' behavior tell us otherwise. So WCC must persevere in our efforts to bring Hun Sen to justice. This means that our efforts to work closely with the US Congress to get Senate Resolution 309 must double and we must continue to try to follow the situation as closely as possible.

Sam Rainsy has now a chance to do something good if he is capable of shedding his demagoguery image. He should remain in the loyal opposition and not participating in this coalition which I am sure will not work due to the forthcoming unrest by the general population to mass starvation occasioned by total destruction of natural resource, especially of what remain of the forest in Cambodia.

Regards.
N Tith

Attachment
Cambodia's bitter rivals agree on new coalition By Robert Birsel (Reuters, Nov 13, 1998).