US Secretary of State Colin Powell’s visit to Cambodia last week was more subdued than an earlier string of State Department censures might have heralded. Fiery words from Washington over the government’s handling of the Jan 29 anti-Thai riots and the seeming impunity over several high-profile assassinations in Phnom Penh had set the stage for Powell’s visit.
The trip by the US’ top diplomat yielded no confrontations, and was instead called a political success by both the ruling CPP and the opposition Sam Rainsy Party. Other observers say the only success was for Powell himself and US strategic interests.
Powell told US senators last month he would use his trip to express the US concerns over the “situation” in Cambodia—and he arrived at Phnom Penh International Airport flanked by dozens of stocky, short-haired agents, two of whom had assault rifles handy for the drive to the city center.
Prime Minister Hun Sen and the CPP, meanwhile, expected Powell to get a clearer picture of Cambodia than the distorted view that some officials were peddling in Washington, government spokesman Khieu Kanharith said on Monday.
Though Sam Rainsy’s “handshake” with Colin Powell Friday was featured more prominently on international news channels than his meeting with Hun Sen, Khieu Kanharith said it would have no impact on the opposition leader’s popularity or the result of the July 27 elections.
Cambodian voters are more concerned with their standard of living than whether the opposition leader is seen on the US television network CNN, Khieu Kanharith said.
“[Sam Rainsy] goes to meet Colin Powell for a few minutes in front of the media, but the people in the provinces don’t care,” Khieu Kanharith said.
The meeting between Powell and Hun Sen was a success in that several “serious issues” were addressed, including a request for Cambodia to exempt US citizens and troops from prosecution by the International Criminal Court.
“Hun Sen said there is no problem [with the US request] but he will wait for the experts to check and make sure that it is not incompatible with the ICC,” Khieu Kanharith said.
Cambodia, as a member of ICC, may be bound by certain obligations, and that needs to be checked, he added.
The ICC was inaugurated on March 12 with the stated aim of intervening only when a country lacks the ability or political will to hold its own trials for genocide, war crimes or crimes against humanity committed. Cambodia was any early ICC supporter.
Despite the stated high ideals of the ICC and the US government pressure on seeing a Khmer Rouge genocide tribunal, the ICC’s jurisdiction is staunchly opposed by the US, which fears its citizens or troops would be subject to politically motivated prosecutions.
Of the 90 countries who are ICC signatories, 30 have now signed bilateral agreements with Washington prohibiting extradition from their territory of US citizens charged with crimes against humanity or war crimes.
Though Powell was not as strong on criticism of the Hun Sen government as statements from Washington had earlier indicated, he did speak publicly of the need for free and fair elections, and in private gave stronger assurances of his desire to see the elections go smoothly, said Ung Bun-Ang, Sam Rainsy Party election committee chief and head of public relations.
While it was expected of Powell to meet with Hun Sen, his decision to meet with the opposition party leader was unprecedented, Ung Bun-Ang said.
“If I was the CPP, I wouldn’t be too excited that Colin Powell came to Cambodia,” said Ung Bun-Ang, adding that the Powell handshake with his party leader will be central to the Sam Rainsy Party’s election campaign.
Chea Vannath, president of the Center for Social Development, said on Monday that Powell’s trip was concerned with US strategic interests, which are currently dominated by its so-called war on terrorism and the need for agreement on the ICC.
Powell’s efforts to circumvent the jurisdiction of the international court was a continuation of the US’ recent decision to go to war in Iraq without UN sanction, she said.
“It is very ambiguous principles,” said Chea Vannath, adding that for mutual interest Hun Sen had also agreed to the US request on the ICC exemption.
