Factional Dispute Stalls Key Phase of Cambodia Peace Plan

The four warring factions in Cambodia failed Thursday to settle a dispute that has prompted the notorious Khmer Rouge guerrillas to refuse to implement the key second phase of the U.N.-sponsored peace agreement.

At the same time, an advance party of Japanese officials arrived here to discuss the first overseas deployment of Japanese soldiers since the end of World War II. The group included three army officers.

Cambodia’s peace appeared even more fragile than usual Thursday with the Khmer Rouge’s refusal to allow peacekeeping forces from the United Nations Transitional Authority in Cambodia (UNTAC) into territory under their control.

The deployment was supposed to have taken place June 13, when UNTAC began gathering troops of the factions in military camps called cantonments. Under a peace agreement signed last October in Paris, 70% of the military units of the four groups will be disarmed in a prelude to elections next April.

The Khmer Rouge has refused to allow the cantonment process to go ahead, contending that the United Nations had failed in its mandate to verify the withdrawal of Vietnamese forces from the country and in exerting its control over the civilian administration of Cambodia.

In response, UNTAC has promised to deploy mobile patrols to search for foreign soldiers and on Wednesday announced that civilian UNTAC officials had symbolically taken control of five key areas: foreign affairs, national defense, finance, public security and information.

But the “control” so far has been limited to symbolic visits by UNTAC officials to government ministries.

After Thursday’s talks, Premier Hun Sen of the Phnom Penh government warned that “if the attitudes of the parties continue in this way, I’m afraid we will not see much light in the future.”

U.N. officials have expressed concern that the entire peace agreement could collapse if the Khmer Rouge does not agree to begin disarming its forces. Although cantonment has begun with the three other factions, they are reluctant to proceed unless the Khmer Rouge also takes part.

Some Western diplomats believe that the Khmer Rouge is engaged in an elaborate maneuver to win concessions from UNTAC, knowing that the longer they hold out, the greater the dangers to the peace agreement.

The Japanese delegation that arrived in Phnom Penh on Thursday was led by Tatsuo Arima, a Cabinet foreign affairs counselor.

He said he would be assessing UNTAC’s needs in restoring peace to the country.

In addition to being the largest aid donor to Cambodia, the Japanese government managed to force through the Japanese Parliament after an emotional debate a bill permitting Japanese troops for the first time since World War II to serve overseas in peacekeeping forces.