Hun Sen reveals secret during the search for peace [-Hun Sen and Sihanouk share a lot of secrets: Hun Sen]

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Thursday, March 19, 2009

19 March 2009
Kampuchea Thmei
Translated from Khmer by Socheata
Considering that 18 March is a historical date for the start of the war by the reactionary group 39 years ago, Hun Sen said that he will reveal a secret that no Cambodians nor foreigners knew about. The secret that Hun Sen revealed was about the origin of the president of the Supreme National Council (SNC).

Hun Sen said, during the yearly meeting of the ministry of Education Youth and Sport, that it was during the 6th SNC meeting presided by Sihanouk, that the Cambodian side was putting effort because if it were to leave it to the foreign side, the law involved would be a failure, and the SNC would not even have a president.

According to the history revealed by Hun Sen, he said that he provided many formulas to Sihanouk. One of the formula that the Phnom Penh government (i.e. the PRK regime installed by Hanoi) could not accept was the one in which the SNC would be presided by Sihanouk and Hun Sen would act as its vice-president.
The other formulas that were advanced at the time included: Sihanouk and Hun Sen would become co-president of the SNC, another one in which Sihanouk and Hun Sen would rotate the SNC presidency one month each, and another formula in which the SNC would be presided by a party of 12. Hun Sen said that there was one formula supported by Sihanouk: in this formula, Sihanouk will be the sole president of the SNC, but he would resign from his position as the chief of the joint tri-partite government and he would also resign from his position as president of Funcinpec. According to Hun Sen, Sihanouk accepted this formula, and Sihanouk said that when he becomes the SNC president, he will resign from his positions as chief of the joint tri-partite government and president of Funcinpec.
Hun Sen claimed that there are many other secrets that no one knows about [KI-Media: Isn’t that why they call them secrets to start with?], and only he and Sihanouk share with each other. He said that he kept all these secrets and he will write them down in a book that will be sold at a very high price.
Regarding history, Hun Sen said that 18 March was the date of the start of the destructive war in Cambodia, but this fact was hidden and people did not dare talk about it because it is a shame. He said that in reality, these people (meaning those involved in the 18 March 1970 event) should be put or trial first. Hun Sen said that he told Shinahara, the former Japanese ambassador to Cambodia that: “I rather take defeat, but I would not allow my country to face war again, make no mistake about it.”
Hun Sen’s declaration on Wednesday appears to aim at the progress of the KR Tribunal which is currently facing budget shortage. Hun Sen said that he spoke to the Japanese ambassador, telling the latter that Japan should provide a lot of money [to Cambodia], not just that much because Japan had always supported the Khmer Rouge also. He said that Japan has a lot of issues with him, including lengthy negotiations filled with secrets. He said that he needs to talk about these issues so that history does not repeat itself again.
Hun Sen said that if there was no 1970 coup d’état, there would be no war, and Cambodia would develop significantly if Sihanouk were left to lead the country until now. If Sihanouk was not deposed, there would be no war, and no Pol Pot either [KI-Media note: and there would be no Hun Sen, nor CPP either]. Hun Sen said: “We had a lot of difficulties to seek peace using the Cambodian approach, however, if a foreign approach was used instead, there would be no success because foreign countries are only good at talking over institutions only.”
Hun Sen said: “We have already protected peace, that is we have protected human lives, protected development, therefore, we do not allow war to restart again.”
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Development of the SNC

The Cambodian Supreme National Council (SNC) was formed in September 1990. On May 1, 1991, the four factions announced a voluntary cease-fire and arms moratorium. Since then, under the leadership of Prince Sihanouk, the SNC moved forward rapidly to reach consensus on a final comprehensive settlement based on the Permanent Five framework. It met five times--in Jakarta; Pattaya, Thailand (twice); Beijing; and New York--to work out differences over the draft agreements.

The SNC members agreed to elect Prince Sihanouk as President of the SNC and to designate him the final arbiter in the absence of a consensus. They then decided on at least 70% demobilization of all factional forces during the transitional period, with the rest to be demobilized or merged into a new national army after elections. They agreed that the first election will be conducted through a proportional representation system along provincial lines. Finally, they delegated to the UN the last word on all matters relating to the organization and conduct of the elections during the transitional period.
There is a consensus among the four Cambodian factions and interested countries that representatives of a Supreme National Council should be seated in the UN General Assembly as the Cambodian delegation.

prince Sihanouk and the SNC returned to Phnom Penh in mid-November to establish the SNC headquarters.

Source: Gist: Cambodia settlement agreement - Comprehensive Settlement, US Department of State Dispatch, June 8, 1992.