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Hmmm, I woder what Kerry's negotiating skills are really like in tough situations.

Immediately after Kerry returned from Vietnam with Bill and Hillary in November 2000, this message was sent.

LEAD: Cambodia agrees to move for Khmer Rouge trial.
Asian Political News, Nov 27, 2000

PHNOM PENH, Nov. 20 Kyodo

(EDS: UPDATES WITH TALKS BETWEEN KERRY AND CAMBODIAN LEADERSHIP)

U.S. Sen. John Kerry said Monday Cambodian leaders have agreed to expedite the process to set up a trial of former Khmer Rouge leaders.

''All have agreed to try to move, to expedite, the process with respect to the tribunal,'' Kerry told reporters shortly after a series of meetings with Cambodian leaders, including Prime Minister Hun Sen.

Kerry added Sok An, the chief of the Cambodian negotiation team on the Khmer Rouge trial, will begin briefing a legislative committee on a trial before the end of this month.

Sok An also told reporters he is preparing to act and Kerry noted, ''The prime minister and Sok An would like the debate to commence in the month of December. I think this is a very important commitment to bringing the process of the formation of a tribunal to a successful conclusion.''

Cambodia explained its months-long delay in efforts to set up a special tribunal for bringing former Khmer Rouge leaders to justice due to serious flooding in the country.

During his one-day trip to Cambodia, Kerry met with Hun Sen, Prince Norodom Ranariddh, president of the National Assembly, Sar Kheng, co-minister of Interior, and Sok An.

Kerry has played a mediating role between the United Nations and Cambodia on the trial issue since April.

The Cambodian government submitted a draft bill on a Khmer Rouge tribunal to parliament earlier this year, but it has yet to be acted upon by legislators.

Prince Ranariddh vowed to expedite a draft bill as soon as the government finishes an explanation to his legislative commission.

But it remains unclear when a tribunal might begin because of many differences of opinion, including future involvement of foreign judges and prosecutors in the tribunal.

Critics, however, suggest Hun Sen and many others in the government do not want to see a trial at all because it may call their own actions in the late 1970s and after into question.

China, too, is to loathe to see the Khmer Rouge leadership tried for the deaths of at least 1.7 million Cambodians during Khmer Rouge rule from 1975 to 1979 because China was the deadly regime's main backer.

COPYRIGHT 2000 Kyodo News International, Inc.
COPYRIGHT 2000 Gale Group

Later....

Cambodia Khmer Rouge
Trial Law Delayed Further
By Craig Etcheson
Reuters
June 5, 2001

The Cambodian official responsible for setting up a tribunal to judge the Khmer Rouge leadership has announced, once again, that "the government is too busy" to address the issue of justice for the crimes of the Pol Pot regime.
Long-awaited legislation to create a special trial for former Khmer Rouge leaders will not be passed on to Cambodia's National Assembly until later this month, the government said on Tuesday.

Prime Minister Hun Sen said in April the government would submit the legislation to lawmakers before he left for an aid donors' meeting in Tokyo this month.

"The government is too busy, so we decided to do it after we return from the meeting," senior cabinet minister Sok An told Reuters.

Hun Sen and senior members of his cabinet are scheduled to go to Tokyo on Wednesday for the June 11-13 meeting. They are due to return to Cambodia on June 14.

Cambodia and the United Nations agreed in April last year on how to try former leaders of the radical communist group, blamed for an estimated 1.7 million deaths during their 1975-79 "killing fields" regime.

Although legislation to create a tribunal was approved by Cambodia's parliament earlier this year, Hun Sen kicked it back to the government in mid-February to have all references to the death penalty removed. Cambodia does not have a death penalty. The process has been stalled since then.

Khmer Rouge leader Pol Pot died in April 1998 as government troops were closing in on his jungle hideout in northern Cambodia, but many of his old comrades are living freely after surrendering.

More recently....

Cambodia, U.N. sign pact on Khmer Rouge trial.
Asian Political News, June 9, 2003

PHNOM PENH, June 6 Kyodo

After six years of negotiations and controversy, Cambodia and the United Nations signed an agreement Friday to set up a U.N.-assisted tribunal to try former Khmer Rouge leaders responsible for the deaths of at least 1.7 million Cambodians in the late 1970s.

The agreement was inked by Sok An, chief of Cambodia's legal team, and the U.N. legal counsel Hans Corell in the presence of hundreds of foreign diplomats, government officials, students and foreign expatriates.

The signing was a follow up to the U.N. General Assembly's adoption last month of a resolution endorsing the establishment of the tribunal under an agreement concluded between the United Nations and the Cambodian government.

Following the formal signing, the accord will be submitted to Cambodia's National Assembly for ratification before entering into force.

After the signing, Sok An said, ''We have waited a long time for this prediction to come true. Almost a quarter of a century, a whole generation, has passed, during which geopolitical complications stood in the way of a proper international recognition of the crimes committed. Now we have emerged from that period.''

However, Sok An stressed that ''the road ahead will also not be easy, as we move from the negotiating phase to the implementation phase.''

As for the U.N., Corell said, ''There is much that the United Nations will have to do, also. First and foremost, the secretary general (Kofi Annan) will have to secure voluntary contributions from states to fund the assistance that the United Nations is to provide under the agreement.''

The preliminary estimate is $19 million for a three-year operation.

Neither Sok An nor Corell, however, could elaborate on when the actual trial will take place, only saying both Cambodia and the U.N. were committed to proceeding with the case as soon as possible.

National and international observers have been increasingly concerned that the surviving Khmer Rouge leaders will die before the tribunal takes off.

All three surviving top Khmer Rouge leaders -- Ieng Sary, Khieu Samphan and Nuon Chea -- are in their late 70s and live freely in Cambodia. Supreme leader Pol Pot died in 1998.

The agreement calls for setting up a two-level international tribunal, with Cambodia appointing three judges to a five-judge trial chamber and four judges to a seven-judge supreme court.

In February last year, Annan decided to withdraw from the negotiations with Cambodia that began in 1997, saying the trial as planned by Cambodia would not guarantee the independence, impartiality and objectivity that a court established with the support of the U.N. must have.

But last December, the U.N. General Assembly adopted a resolution calling on Annan to restart the negotiations.

Only two senior Khmer Rouge figures are now in custody -- former military commander Ta Mok and Kaing Khek Ieu, better known as Duch, who ran a Khmer Rouge torture and interrogation center in Phnom Penh.

COPYRIGHT 2003 Kyodo News International, Inc.
COPYRIGHT 2003 Gale Group

More recently again....

Cambodia, U.N. to discuss Khmer Rouge trial in December

By Puy Kea

PHNOM PENH, Nov. 12 Kyodo - A five-member delegation from the United Nations will visit Cambodia next month to discuss the details of a planned three-year trial of former Khmer Rouge leaders, including details regarding budget, materials, facilities and administration, a senior government official said Wednesday.

Sean Visoth, executive secretary in charge of the trial issue, said that the delegation headed by Karsten Herrel, coordinator for the U.N. assistance to the Khmer Rouge tribunal, will arrive in Cambodia on Dec. 8 and stay here until Dec. 13.

Khmer Rouge leaders have been blamed for the deaths of at least 1.7 million Cambodians during their rule from 1975 to 1979.

According to a budget estimate by the Cambodian side, the total cost for a three-year trial would amount to $39.23 million, of which the U.N. would allocate $18.92 million or 48% and Cambodia would shoulder the remainder.

Cambodia, however, has repeatedly cited budget constraints and would be expected to rely heavily on foreign donors for its share of the costs.

''Taking into consideration that Cambodia does not have adequate financial resources, its contribution depends in good part on financial assistance from the donor countries,'' according to a proposed budget text distributed to more than 20 foreign embassies in Cambodia, a copy of which was seen by Kyodo News.

After six years of bumpy negotiations, Cambodia and the U.N. signed an agreement last June to set up a U.N.-assisted tribunal in Cambodia to try former Khmer Rouge leaders.

The accord was supposed to have been soon after ratified by Cambodia's National Assembly, but it has been postponed due to the political deadlock that followed the July general election.

Cambodia, however, is committed to ratifying the accord soon after new parliament begins to function after a new coalition government is formed.

While surviving Khmer Rouge leaders are getting old and fragile, neither Cambodia nor the U.N. has elaborated on when the actual trial could begin, only saying that they are committed to proceeding with it as soon as possible.

All three surviving top Khmer Rouge leaders -- Ieng Sary, Khieu Samphan and Nuon Chea -- are in their late 70s and live freely in Cambodia. Supreme leader Pol Pot died in 1998.

Only two senior Khmer Rouge figures are now in custody -- former military commander Ta Mok and Kaing Khek Ieu, better known as Duch, who ran a Khmer Rouge torture and interrogation center in Phnom Penh.

The agreement calls for setting up a two-level international tribunal, with Cambodia appointing three judges to the five-judge trial chamber and four judges to the seven-judge supreme court.

According to the proposed budget text, each of the five international judges will receive minimum salaries at $10,000 per month plus benefits, while each of the seven Cambodian judges will earn $1,500 per month.

I don't blame all the failure here on Sen Kerry, but I find it incredibly hypocritical to get flustered over any perception of Bush and Iraq, when Kerry himself displays such an incredibly lackluster record in international affairs,......where Pol Pot is dead and the international community is simply throwong money at a third world country.