For 1st Time, Cambodia Factions to Talk Peace

For the first time in nearly a decade of war, the contending factions in the Cambodian conflict came together Sunday to seek a political solution to the bloodshed in their country.

This morning, at a hilltop resort 40 miles outside Jakarta, talks will begin between Hun Sen, the 37-year-old premier of a Vietnamese-installed Cambodian government, and three resistance factions struggling for control of the beleaguered Southeast Asian country of 7 million people.

Host for the meetings in this Java resort city is Indonesian Foreign Minister Ali Alatas, who said he expects the talks to continue for at least “a couple of days.”

With the current withdrawal of Soviet troops from Afghanistan and signs of warming between Moscow and Beijing, the prospect of even tentative discussion of a solution to the Cambodian problem promises a relaxation of longstanding tensions in Asia.

Former Sukarno Palace

The meetings begin this morning at the old palace of the late President Sukarno. The 19th-Century white stone structure, built in European classical style as a resort by the former Dutch colonialists, is surrounded by sweeping lawns and shade trees, and hundreds of spotted deer.

The last of the Cambodian resistance delegations arrived Sunday and were housed on the palace grounds along with Hun Sen’s large contingent, which flew into Jakarta on Saturday on a chartered Soviet Aeroflot plane with delegations from its Communist allies, Vietnam and Laos.

In an interview in his Jakarta office, Foreign Minister Alatas said he will open the talks among the Cambodian factions with a simple greeting and an offer to moderate if requested. However, he said, he thought such a role “would be inappropriate” and that he expected to leave the room and the discussions to the warring factions.

The all-Cambodian talks will be held in the library of the old palace, with the heads of the four delegations seated in easy chairs at a round table. Besides Hun Sen, the participants will be Norodom Ranariddh, son of Cambodia’s longtime leader, Prince Norodom Sihanouk, who is in Jakarta but not directly participating in the talks; Son Sann, a former premier under Sihanouk, and Khieu Samphan, a high official of the Khmer Rouge regime that was ousted by the Vietnamese invasion of December, 1978, and replaced by Hun Sen’s government.

Later today, according to Alatas, the Cambodian factions will be joined by representatives of Vietnam, Laos and the Assn. of Southeast Asian Nations, a six-state, non-Communist group opposed to the continuing Vietnamese occupation of Cambodia.

Just bringing the contending sides together “is an achievement in itself,” Alatas said. He noted that the issues are clear and that there is a “wide divergence of views.” What he hopes to accomplish here, Alatas said, is an “articulation of the common ground” among the Cambodians.

“We have not set our sights very high,” he remarked, “but we are not pessimistic. . . . We are entering a delicate stage.”

‘A Cocktail Party’

The Indonesian hosts have tried to keep the atmosphere around the talks relaxed, initially calling them “a cocktail party,” an icebreaker among longtime antagonists. The program began Sunday night with a private, informal dinner at the home of Bogor’s mayor.

Alatas acknowledged the outside pressure for some sort of political settlement. Noting the recent U.S.-Soviet summit in Moscow, the former U.N. ambassador said there is “a strong trend toward dialogue and political negotiation” in the world, and “we are hopeful that this trend will manifest itself in our region.”