The foreign ministers of Thailand, Indonesia and the Philippines are due to fly to Siem Reap this weekend to meet with King Norodom Sihanouk, a Thai diplomat confirmed Thursday.
The diplomat said the delegation was to arrive Saturday, but he could not confirm the agenda for discussion between the King and the Asean “troika” that has been consulting in the nation’s ongoing political crisis.
The Nation newspaper reported from Bangkok that the foreign ministers—Surin Pitsuwan of Thailand, Ali Alatas of Indonesia and Domingo Siazon from the Philippines—are scheduled to discuss the fate of deposed first prime minister Prince Norodom Ranariddh, Asean’s role in Cambodia’s upcoming elections and ways to ensure the polls are free and fair.
Asean has agreed to provide observers for the elections, scheduled for July 26.
The UN has agreed to coordinate observers but will not be directly involved in monitoring the election itself.
The troika is scheduled Sunday to meet with representatives of the Friends of Cambodia in Bangkok.
The Friends of Cambodia—which is composed of Australia, Britain, China, the European Union, France, Germany, Japan and the US—is scheduled to meet in Bangkok over the weekend to assess the peace process and progress toward the elections.
In Cambodia, Asean has become uncharacteristically involved in the nation’s internal affairs after decades of avowed noninterference.
Although the group insists it can only advise, Siazon, Alatas and Surin have met several times with both Second Prime Minister Hun Sen and Prince Ranariddh and endorsed the idea of “informal talks” between the two. The offer was rejected by Hun Sen.
Cambodia was scheduled to join Asean last July, just days after the July 5-6 fighting that effectively ousted Prince Ranariddh from power.
The regional grouping put off Cambodia’s membership because of the political crisis.
