Albright rebuffed on Cambodia Aid,

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Subject: Albright rebuffed on Cambodia Aid, Burma


Sunday July 27 3:26 PM EDT

Albright Rebuffed on Cambodia Aid, Burma
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(By Carol Giacomo)

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (Reuter) - The United States failed to persuade
Association of South East Asian Nations and its allies to use aid to
leverage a Cambodia political settlement and to toughen the regional
group's approach to Burma, officials said Sunday.

Secretary of State Madeleine Albright made the aid argument in a meeting
with Japanese Foreign Minister Yukihiko Ikeda "but we do not have the same
position on what to do about aid," State Department spokesman Nicholas
Burns said afterwards.

He said Ikeda told Albright Japan, Cambodia's largest donor, would continue
aid unless strongman Hun Sen reneged on vows to observe human rights,
retain constitutional government, respect the 1991 Paris peace accords and
hold free elections.

The two foreign ministers met on the fringes of the Association of
Southeast Asian Nations meeting here.

The United States hoped ASEAN and its allies would agree to withhold their
aid, or at least part of their aid, as a way to encourage Hun Sen to
negotiate a Cambodian political solution.

The tortured country was calmed after the 1991 Paris peace accords and 1993
internationally supervised elections. But turmoil returned on July 6 when
second prime minister Hun Sen forcibly ousted Prince Norodom Ranariddh, the
first prime minister.

The United States, aiming to pressure Hun Sen to re- establish a coalition
government, suspended $42 million in aid to Cambodia for 30 days, a period
which ends early next month.

Burns reiterated Sunday a U.S. inclination to reinstate humanitarian aid
through private voluntary organistions, inlcuding funds for destroying of
landmines.

But he also said the United States is unlikely to provide soon aid that
goes directly to the government. Cambodia, the most dependent country in
the world, looks to the international community to provide about half its
budget.

Burns denied the aid issue had been a setback for Albright. The most
important thing was the strong consensus in support of ASEAN mediating a
political settlement in Cambodia and in support of a return to democracy
and free and fair elections, he said

Albright also made a fresh effort Sunday to get ASEAN to take urgent action
on Burma, arguing Rangoon's drug trade and repression work against the
region's growing vibrancy.

Burns said she made a vigorous rebuttal after Burma's Foreign minster
described for ASEAN a life in his country that the Americans derided
privately as "Orwellian."

Burma is the only ASEAN member subject to international sanctions and where
foreign investment is stagnating. It is also the only ASEAN nation "where
the government protects and profits from the drug trade ... Drug money is
laundered with such impunity...that it taints legitimate investment," she
added.

Albright urged ASEAN leaders and their embassies to have regular contact
with Nobel peace prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi, the pro-democracy activist
whose election as Burma's leader was set aside by the militrary junta.

Burns said Malaysia and Japan may back a more assertive ASEAN approach on
Burma but there were no commitments.

Washington for years has unsuccessfully pressed ASEAN to take action on
Burma, citing Rangoon's abysmal human rights record. This year's pitch
centred more on issues involving the direct self-interest of ASEAN's
booming economies.

ASEAN admitted Burma despite criticism from Western powers led by
Washington.

By taking Burma as a new member this year, ASEAN accepted it would have to
deal with Burma's problems, Albright told the group.

Burns said the secretary was not disappointed she did not win an immediate
change in ASEAN's approach toward Burma because this is only "the beginning
of an effort to convince ASEAN to play a more aggressive role."

(27 July 1997, Reuter)	

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