By Dennis J. Coday
Originally published July 11, 1997, by Catholic News Service
BANGKOK, Thailand (CNS) — Catholic Relief Services planned to temporarily relocate some of its staff out of the Cambodian capital, Phnom Penh, following heavy fighting between forces of the country’s co-premiers.
Mark Pierce, country representative for Catholic Relief Services in Cambodia, talked with Catholic News Service by telephone July 11 shortly after a meeting for CRS staff, where it was decided that two of the expatriate staff would be “temporarily redeployed outside Cambodia.”
Two were to leave July 12 and three staff were to remain in Phnom Penh to monitor the situation.
The decision for staff to leave was prompted by two announcements from the U.S. State Department.
According to a State Department release, spokesman Nicholas Burns said July 9 that the U.S. government was “encouraging U.S. citizens to leave Cambodia immediately via private airlines.”
Another release said Burns announced July 10 that the United States would suspend all aid to Cambodia for the following 30 days. U.S. aid to Cambodia is $35 million for the current fiscal year.
Pierce said the withdrawal of CRS staff was a “typical precautionary measure.”
“We are following basic protocol about peace and taking necessary precautions,” he added.
He reiterated, however, that “security does not look very serious in Phnom Penh” and “we have no reports of fighting in the provinces.” He described the situation as quiet but tense.
Fighting between forces loyal to Cambodia’s First Prime Minister Prince Norodom Ranariddh and forces of Second Prime Minister Hun Sen began July 5 in Phnom Penh after Hun Sen accused Ranariddh of adding Khmer Rouge defectors to his troops.
Hun Sen declared the ouster of Ranariddh following two days of heavy combat in which 58 people were killed and 200 wounded.
Pierce said July 11 that people and traffic in the streets of Phnom Penh were conducting business as usual. He said the number of soldiers in the streets was not significantly higher than before July 5, and heavy arms were not noticeably present.
Activity in the streets slows as night falls and by 9 p.m. everything is shut down, Pierce acknowledged, “Not because there is immediate threat, but because it is prudent.”
Cambodians are tense and fearful, “but very hopeful about peace and security,” he said. “The situation has the potential to resolve itself” peacefully.
“They need our support. Cambodia has been at war for 30 years. They really need peace. We’re doing the best we can to be supportive and help them. But at the same time we are being prudent.
“We plan to continue working in Cambodia, even if we have to leave temporarily,” Pierce said.
Pierce told CNS by e-mail July 10 that “for the most part, we have suspended most regular development activities and are beginning to assess relief needs.”
“The feeling is that we need to stay with our Cambodian staff and lend them whatever emotional and material support that we can,” he said.
“Twenty-two years ago, we had to evacuate 33 international staff from Phnom Penh, leaving behind over 300 national staff in the final days of that civil war. Many of those staff were killed under the Khmer Rouge regime, such that today we have only been able to locate 16 former staff. Two work for us now,” Pierce said.
“While our evacuation 22 years ago was absolutely necessary, we would not want to have to do that to our staff again,” he said.
“We are making significant progress in improving the well-being of tens of thousands of people, despite the obstacles that confront us,” Pierce continued. “Much of this is due to the Cambodian people, who desperately want to improve their living conditions, and the Cambodian staff that we work with.”
In the week since fighting broke out, Pierce said that a semblance of order had returned to city.
The Thai government flew military transport planes to Phnom Penh to evacuate Thai nationals and families July 8. Other Southeast Asian nations did the same July 9. The U.S. Embassy in Cambodia began evacuating nonessential personnel July 10.
Hun Sen was installed government head by the Vietnamese after they forced the Khmer Rouge, led by Pol Pot, from power in 1979. It was the Vietnamese intervention that ended four years of genocidal reign by the Khmer Rouge during which 2 million people died.
Rannariddh and Hun Sen were installed respectively as first and second prime ministers in 1993 after elections sponsored by the United Nations and 18 countries under the banner of the Paris Peace Accords.
Dennis Coday 