Cambodia's past and current tyrants: Pol Pot (L) and Hun Sen (R)
August 12, 2009
By A. Gaffar Peang-Meth
Pacific Daily News (Guam)
After three years, eight months and 20 days of the Khmer Rouge's brutal rule, during which 1.7 million Cambodians lost their lives, the signing of the 1991 Paris Peace Accords offered Cambodia and her people a respite from suffering and the destruction, and the promise of a bright future.
The Paris Conference's Final Act, signed on Oct. 23, 1991, by representatives of 18 governments (Australia, Brunei, Cambodia, Canada, China, France, India, Indonesia, Japan, Laos, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Soviet Union, United Kingdom, United States, and Vietnam with the participation of officials from Zimbabwe and Yugoslavia representing the non-aligned movement and the United Nations Secretary-General and his representative) contains a comprehensive political settlement of the Cambodian conflict: a settlement that provides for a constitution based on democratic principles; the recognition of the sovereignty, independence, territorial integrity and inviolability, neutrality and national unity of Cambodia; and provisions for the rehabilitation and reconstruction of the country.
The accords offered a foundation for liberal democracy and for human rights and freedom of the Cambodian people.
But the accords are only words on paper. Short of implementation, they are all but meaningless.
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