Rival Cambodia Factions Renew Fighting Along Thailand Border

Fighting between rival Cambodian factions flared again along the Thai-Cambodian border before a make-or-break round of talks in Paris to settle the decade-old conflict, aid workers and Thai officials said Thursday.

Residents reported hearing heavy exchanges in the central sector of the frontier and foreign aid workers said there had been sporadic clashes over the past five days.

“We hear there is shelling along much of the border. There are more than the usual numbers of wounded being brought across the Cambodian border to Khao-I Dang hospital,” said a Western relief official contacted by telephone.

Three Thai women and a man were wounded Thursday when 16 shells were fired across the border into a Thai frontier village, Thai officials said.

Shells also landed near several refugee camps along the 430-mile frontier.

Final Round Next Week

The final round of the peace talks on Cambodia opens next week to try to hammer out an overall settlement before Vietnam withdraws its last troops from the country by Sept. 26.

Cambodian Premier Hun Sen left Phnom Penh for the conference demanding that the Khmer Rouge, the largest military force in a guerrilla coalition, be left out of any settlement.

The Khmer Rouge is held responsible by Western governments for 1 million deaths during their 3 1/2-year rule, ended by the Vietnamese invasion of Cambodia in December, 1978.

Thai Foreign Minister Siddhi Savetsila said chances were slim of achieving a settlement in Paris because Phnom Penh and Vietnam would not compromise.

Talks Could Be Extended

He also said the Paris talks could be extended beyond the end of the month if agreement could not be reached on time.

The monthlong talks have bogged down in rhetoric, with officials unable to resolve competing demands of the Vietnamese-backed government in Phnom Penh and the three-party coalition headed by Prince Norodom Sihanouk.

France and Indonesia, co-hosts of the conference, drafted a proposed treaty but the warring factions rejected it.

Thai security sources predicted that Vietnamese and Phnom Penh forces would make a final push against guerrilla positions near the frontier before the Vietnamese withdraw.