Sihanouk Willing to Join Regime in Cambodia : Sets Conditions to Return as Head of State in Deal Apart From Rebel Allies

In an apparent breakthrough in the talks on Cambodia’s political future, exiled Prince Norodom Sihanouk said Wednesday that he is now willing to return to Phnom Penh as the country’s head of state, even if he must abandon his coalition allies in the ultra-left Khmer Rouge and enter into a new partnership with the current, Vietnamese-backed government.

At a news conference here after two days of talks, Sihanouk said he had given the Phnom Penh government clear conditions for his participation in the regime. These included a constitutional amendment changing Cambodia from a socialist country to a multi-party system and the setting up of a four-party government during the transition to free elections.

But Sihanouk made clear after his talks with Cambodian Premier Hun Sen that he accepts the constitutional changes announced by Phnom Penh as significant compromises.

“Already we have made tremendous progress in Jakarta,” Sihanouk said.

The talks hosted by Indonesia were the third round of discussions in a year aimed at finding an internal political settlement before Vietnamese forces complete their scheduled withdrawal by Sept. 30. The Vietnamese invaded Cambodia in late 1978 and ousted the Khmer Rouge government, which has been blamed for the deaths of an estimated 1 million Cambodians from killings, torture and disease during its 3 1/2-year rule.

The 67-year-old Sihanouk gave a bravura performance at a packed press conference, calling Hun Sen “a bad boy,” telling reporters that their frequent description of his behavior as mercurial was accurate and warning that when he returns to Bangkok as head of the resistance coalition, he will be required to issue statements denouncing the latest Cambodian reforms.

Pondering Deal

But Sihanouk indicated that he is seriously considering a separate deal with the Hun Sen government that would allow him to return to Phnom Penh as head of state even if the proposals are rejected by his allies in the resistance, the Khmer Rouge and rightist followers of former Prime Minister Son Sann.

Son Sann, who also met Hun Sen separately in Jakarta, later pronounced himself “very surprised” at Sihanouk’s remarks. The Khmer Rouge did not participate in the talks.

Sihanouk said he agreed to meet again with Hun Sen in Paris on July 24, to be followed the next day by a four-party meeting. In the meantime, he said he hopes that Hun Sen will make the required changes in the constitution that would enable him to participate in the government.

Sihanouk said he doubted that the Khmer Rouge would ever agree to compromise with Hun Sen. After they refuse, he said, there would be a tripartite government in Phnom Penh.

Among the points of agreement announced by Hun Sen and Sihanouk were the creation of an “international control mechanism” to monitor the Vietnamese troop withdrawals and help monitor free elections. Sihanouk dropped his demand for a U.N. force, and agreed to allow the force to be chosen by an international conference, with two Western countries, two socialist countries and two nonaligned countries making up the force.

Sihanouk said he and Hun Sen agreed that after the complete withdrawal of Vietnamese troops, both sides would stop receiving arms supplies from outside powers. Asked if he would accept lethal aid from the United States, a move the Bush Administration is reportedly considering, the prince said his forces already have enough weapons.

Sihanouk, who ruled Cambodia until his ouster by a right-wing coup in 1970, said Hun Sen’s government had made significant concessions in the new constitution by accepting the right of private property, a free market, foreign investment and the declaration of Buddhism as the state religion of Cambodia.

“He’s not so bad, my son Hun Sen,” Sihanouk said. “He’s not quite good.”

Multi-Party System

He said he was insisting that the constitution be further amended to remove Hun Sen’s Marxist People’s Revolutionary Party as the dominant political party and replace it with a Western-style multi-party system. Hun Sen said Tuesday that he would consider the change, adding that it seemed inevitable.

The only stumbling block appeared to be Sihanouk’s insistence that the Phnom Penh government be “reshaped” into a so-called four-party system of government. This apparently means Hun Sen must accept, in principle at least, the division of cabinet posts among the four parties, while keeping the existing civil service intact.

Sihanouk tried to play down the changes he sought, comparing it to the way Paris dress designers modify an existing pattern--”like Christian Dior”--rather than scrapping a political system.

Hun Sen has vehemently refused to accept any suggestion that the Phnom Penh government be dismantled in advance of elections, saying that only the people can change the composition of their government. Whether he is prepared to compromise further by naming Sihanouk supporters to Cabinet posts is an open question.

“If Hun Sen accepts, I will join my son,” he said, referring to the Cambodian premier. “I will resign as president of Democratic Kampuchea,” the name given to the coalition government-in-exile, “I will go to Phnom Penh as head of state.”

Western analysts believe that for Hun Sen, the prospect of Sihanouk returning to Cambodia without the Khmer Rouge would be a major triumph. While Sihanouk has little in the way of a national army to contribute, he has enormous prestige as the personification of Cambodia, he has international acceptability and his inclusion as head of state would make it almost impossible for the United States and other governments to continue withholding recognition from the Phnom Penh regime, ending the country’s isolation.

As recently as Monday, when he met with Vice President Dan Quayle, Sihanouk had insisted on the need for including the Khmer Rouge in any settlement.

At the news conference, however, Sihanouk denounced the Khmer Rouge as “criminal” and said that many of his relatives had been among those who perished during the Khmer Rouge rule in Cambodia from 1975 to early 1979.

Sihanouk said he told Hun Sen not to worry about the possibility of the Khmer Rouge joining the new regime in Phnom Penh, a major concern of the current government, because “they want only one thing--the continuation of the war.”

He said Hun Sen has received assurances from Thailand that the Khmer Rouge, whose forces operate out of base camps near the Thai-Cambodian border, would be restrained by the Thai military.

Sihanouk said he rejected Hun Sen’s proposal to create a Supreme National Council, with representatives of each faction, as a compromise way of eliminating the four-party government.

Sihanouk said he would wait until October or November to decide about joining the government. By that time, he said, it will be clear that the Vietnamese have pulled out as they have promised and whether Hun Sen has met his conditions.

SIHANOUK: LONG-EXILED LEADER

Prince Norodom Sihanouk, 67, has agreed conditionally to return to Phnom Penh as Cambodia’s head of state . . . he ruled Cambodia from 1941 to 1970, under Japan and then France and with a variety of titles, including king, prime minister and head of state. . . . He has lived abroad since his ouster in 1970 . . . maintains residences in Paris, Pyongyang and Beijing . . . has said often that his dream is to go home to a free and peaceful Cambodia. . . . He agreed in February to resume presidency of coalition government-in-exile--a post he resigned last July--formed by three factions of resistance movement and recognized by the United Nations. . . . He has been described as “mercurial, alert, sensitive and stubborn,” with many interests including the saxophone, which he has played in own jazz group . . . has also written musical pieces, including military marches, and performed in films written and produced with help of friends. . . . He is said to be an accomplished linguist and fond of driving fast cars.