Cambodian Factions Begin Peace Talks : Southeast Asia: Demobilization proposals remain an obstacle to an agreement by all parties.

The four parties in Cambodia’s civil war opened a climactic round of peace talks Monday with sharp differences over the scale of proposed demobilization by each faction’s army.

Prince Norodom Sihanouk, who was deposed as Cambodia’s leader in 1970 but is now presiding over the peace talks, said he is concerned that even if an agreement is reached among the factions, the United States might veto the deal.

Western diplomats said they are still expecting a breakthrough accord to be ironed out in the three days of discussions by Cambodia’s Supreme National Council, a 12-member interim government formed last year to bring together the four factions that have been fighting in Cambodia since 1979.

The council met for the first time in June and made rapid progress toward a settlement, agreeing to a cease-fire and an end to arms shipments from abroad. But it has so far avoided discussion of the most divisive issues, which now must be tackled at the Pattaya talks.

The council has six members from the Phnom Penh government and six members from the three-group guerrilla coalition. All decisions must be made unanimously.

The main item on the agenda is a draft agreement submitted by the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council, providing for an extensive U.N. role in the transition to free elections in Cambodia.

The Vietnamese-backed government in Phnom Penh has objected to key provisions of the draft that call for complete military demobilization and transfer of key ministries to U.N. control.

The three guerrilla groups fighting the Phnom Penh government, led by the hard-line Khmer Rouge, have said that while the draft is negotiable, they would insist on a prominent U.N. role in the monitoring of a cease-fire and the disarmament of the opposing armies.

A spokesman for Prince Sihanouk said that at Monday’s talks, Phnom Penh Premier Hun Sen proposed that the two sides in the war each reduce their military forces by 40% and place the rest under U.N. supervision in special cantons. The Khmer Rouge, which has become the spokesman for the three-group resistance coalition, countered by suggesting that each side be limited to a 6,000-man army.

The Phnom Penh government is estimated to have an army of slightly more than 40,000 troops and 60,000 militiamen. The Khmer Rouge has an estimated 30,000 men in the field, while the smaller Khmer People’s National Liberation Front force has been put at 14,000 and the Sihanouk army at 11,000 men.

During the talks Monday, the Khmer Rouge also demanded that an estimated 30,000 armed police in Cambodia be included in the number of Phnom Penh troops that will be subject to demobilization.

In a controversial move, a spokesman for Sihanouk announced that a letter will be sent from the Supreme National Council to the U.N. secretary general asking for military observers and advisers to be sent to Cambodia to “reinforce” the cease-fire and monitor the flow of arms to the four parties. The United States has already announced that it would oppose sending U.N. troops to Cambodia until a complete peace accord is reached, providing for free, fair elections.

Sihanouk on Monday said he was no longer concerned that the Khmer Rouge and the Phnom Penh government, the primary antagonists at the talks, would fail to reach agreement. “They are like China and Vietnam,” Sihanouk said, referring to the recent warming of relations between Hanoi and Beijing. “They are OK now.”

But Sihanouk said he is worried “about getting the approval of our American friends” for the new proposals being hammered out in Pattaya.

After the talks, the five Security Council members--the United States, the Soviet Union, Britain, France and China--will meet in Pattaya to decide whether the changes to the peace plan are acceptable. The vice foreign ministers of China and Vietnam were already in Pattaya and will be joined by senior Soviet, British and American officials Thursday. The high-level delegations already arriving in Thailand have led many observers to conclude a deal has already been reached.

The United States has not indicated what provisions of the U.N. peace agreement are regarded as sacrosanct. But one Western diplomat suggested that as long as the final plan includes elections, it would be nearly impossible for the Security Council to say no to a four-party Cambodian agreement.