Foreign Minister Hor Namhong said Monday it is still up to the UN to restart talks for a trial of former Khmer Rouge leaders.
“We are waiting to see what [UN Secretary-General] Kofi Annan will do,” Hor Namhong said, speaking to reporters after a meeting with Singaporean Foreign Minister S Jayakumar.
“Cambodia has already done enough at this stage. Kofi Annan is in the right place to deal with this,” the minister said.
Minister of Cabinet Sok An, the government’s head tribunal negotiator, flew to New York Sunday, but was not scheduled to meet with Annan, Hor Namhong said.
Annan last week revived hopes for a UN-aided Khmer Rouge tribunal, saying talks could resume with a mandate from the UN Security Council or the UN General Assembly. But Hor Namhong implied that this offer did not really represent progress.
“Mr Kofi Annan has to be aware that if he is going to ask for another mandate from the Security Council, it will be impossible because a certain country will veto it,” he said, alluding to China, which has threatened before to use its veto against a Khmer Rouge trial proposal.
As for Annan’s other proposition, “If Kofi Annan wants to ask for a mandate from the General Assembly, I think he has it already,” Hor Namhong said. “He has gotten a mandate many times already from both the UN Human Rights Commission and the General Assembly. They have requested Kofi Annan to work with Cambodia on this issue.”
The General Assembly has several times approved general proposals for a tribunal, but observers say Annan may be seeking more specific instruction from the body.
The UN ended more than four years of trial negotiations in February.
