The End of the 12-Year War? : Cambodia turnabout: U.N. Security Council crafts a helpful deal

With searing memories of Cambodia’s killing fields resting on the world’s collective conscience, it is gratifying to see the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council finally reaching a consensus on how to bring peace to the war-ravaged country.

The United States, Britain, France, China and the Soviet Union emerged from two days of private talks with plans that provide for a truce in Cambodia and a transitional U.N. administration until a new government is elected. It is the second time in a month that the Security Council has exerted a true leadership role in marshaling a collective international response to a troublesome situation.The action was not as swift as the U.N.’s quick efforts to contain Saddam Hussein in the Persian Gulf, but it is a long overdue attempt to resolve the 12-year civil war in Cambodia.

Details of the plan are still sketchy, but diplomats have described it as an “unprecedented” U.N. operation--greater in significance, scope and size than any other previous U.N. involvement in that region.

Three of the permanent Security Council members have yielded to new political realities. No longer can the United States, Soviet Union and China each back different factions. The United States recently moved to open talks about Cambodia with Hanoi, doing a turnabout in its support of a coalition composed of two non-communist groups and the Khmer Rouge. The Soviet Union, preoccupied with its own problems, has cut back aid to Vietnam and the Vietnamese-supported Hun Sen government in Cambodia. China, the primary source of arms to the Khmer Rouge, probably seeks to end its international isolation and shore up its image.

The four factions vying for power in Cambodia--Hun Sen, Prince Sihanouk, Son Sann and the Khmer Rouge--should agree to the U.N. plan. In one positive sign, Cambodian resistance forces, including the Khmer Rouge, quickly accepted the offer of an interim U.N. administration. If the others follow, it may open a new, more peaceful, chapter in Cambodian history.