US Military Brass To Make First Visit Since ’97

The US military’s Pacific commander will arrive in Phnom Penh Friday for a series of largely diplomatic meetings with senior government officials before flying to Koh Tang to examine efforts to recover the remains of US soldiers there, a US embassy official said Tuesday.

Admiral Dennis Blair’s visit marks the first time a senior-ranking US military official has met with government officials here since June 1997, when US and Cambodian navies conducted joint training exercises to im­prove Cambodian navigation, boat maintenance and survival skills.

The US cut off bilateral aid to Cambodia after factional fighting erupted in July 1997 between royalist troops and soldiers loyal to then co-Prime Minister Hun Sen, who wrestled power from his counterpart, Prince Norodom Ranariddh.

The possibility of resumed aid was raised in November during a brief visit by US Senator John Kerry, who suggested the US may be ready to loosen its restrictions against Cambodia with the successful passage of the Khmer Rouge trial law.

US Embassy officials said Blair’s visit is only “to extend appreciation to the [Cambodian] gov­ern­ment” for supporting efforts to recover the remains of US soldiers from fighting in the 1970s.

The officials did not say discussions about military aid would be held.

RCAF’s deputy commander-in-chief, General Pol Saroeun, confirmed Blair’s visit but said he did not know if military aid to Cam­bodia would be discussed.

Traveling with Blair will be Charles Twining, US ambassador to Cambodia from 1994 and 1996, who is now Blair’s foreign po­licy adviser, an embassy official said.

Blair will be in Cambodia at the same time US Congressman Richard Gephardt is leading a 10-person delegation on a two-day visit to Angkor Wat before he trav­els to Phnom Penh for what has been described by the embassy as a “familiarization tour.”

Gephardt, a Democrat from the US state of Missouri, would likely discuss both the pending Khmer Rouge trial and direct aid, officials have said.

Embassy officials say the visits of Blair and Gephardt, who is the US House of Representatives minority leader, are not related.