Cambodia Talks Fail to Set Truce

Two days of peace talks between Khmer Rouge guerrillas and the government ended Saturday with hopeful statements about national reconciliation but no concrete agreement on a cease-fire.

Meeting at Cambodian King Norodom Sihanouk’s residence in the North Korean capital, Pyongyang, the two sides signed a declaration stating that Cambodia is a single, indivisible nation.

Sihanouk, serving as mediator, said that Khmer Rouge leader Khieu Samphan and Cambodia’s co-premiers, Prince Norodom Ranariddh and Hun Sen, formed a committee “to discuss and resolve one by one” their differences. It will meet in Phnom Penh on June 15.

Before the talks, Sihanouk had proposed an unconditional cease-fire starting June 15, and the government agreed. Khieu Samphan said earlier last week that he also agreed to a truce, provided that five neutral countries could be found to monitor it.

No date was set for the truce to begin, Sihanouk said Saturday.

The Khmer Rouge has been fighting from the jungles since 1979, when it was ousted from power after having killed hundreds of thousands of people in fanatical attempts to restructure society.

The guerrillas boycotted a U.N.-organized election in May, 1993, and continued fighting.