Cambodia Celebrates Peace

Institute president Richard H. Solomon visited Cambodia on the fifth anniversary of the Paris Agreement to assess the progress of reconstructing a shattered nation.

Left to right: King Sihanouk of Cambodia greets Richard Solomon in Phnom Penh.

Cambodia was one of the countries of Indochina shattered by the Vietnam War and an indigenous communist revolution. It was also the subject of the first United Nations (UN) peacekeeping operation at the end of the Cold War--the UN Transitional Authority in Cambodia (UNTAC). The internationally sponsored elections of 1993 seemed to put the country back on the road to stability and economic modernization within the framework of a constitutional monarchy, says Richard H. Solomon, president of the U.S. Institute of Peace and former assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs (1989-92). Yet despite several years of progress, the international community still has a number of concerns about the intimidation of legitimate opposition in that country and the unresolved issue of accountability for the genocide of the 1970s in which more than a million people died.

At the invitation of the Cambodian government and with urging from the U.S. Department of State, Solomon visited Cambodia October 21-24 to participate in a symposium celebrating the fifth anniversary of the signing of the Paris Agreement. The agreement of 1991, negotiated by the five permanent members of the UN Security Council, provided the basic framework for resolving the Cambodian conflict; and Solomon was the U.S. official who negotiated Washington's interest in the UN-sponsored peace process.

Also, the Institute has contributed to Cambodia's reconstruction efforts. In 1994, a team of Institute conflict resolution specialists trained 30 Cambodian government officials in conflict resolution skills; and in 1995, the Institute held a day-long symposium in Washington, D.C., on issues relating to accountability for the Cambodian genocide.

Goals of the Trip

On his recent visit to Phnom Penh, Solomon discussed the concerns of the international community during private talks held separately with King Norodom Sihanouk; Prince Norodom Ranariddh, the first prime minister; and Hun Sen, the second prime minister. He also explored opportunities for the Institute to help further the peace in Cambodia. He was accompanied by the U.S. ambassador to Cambodia, Kenneth Quinn, who had worked with him at the State Department.

On the second day of the symposium, Solomon made a formal presentation in which he said that the international community continues to be concerned about sustainable economic development in Cambodia and the consolidation of democratic political institutions and a free press. "Cambodia can take great pride in the distance the country and its leaders have traveled since the elections of 1993," Solomon said. "Cambodia's leaders could make no greater contribution to their own people, and to the international community, than to consolidate a durable democracy based on the UN settlement agreement, and to bring to justice those Khmer Rouge leaders responsible for the genocide." © 1996 United States Institute of Peace