A group of 10 Nobel prize winners urged the U.N. General Assembly Friday to withdraw support for the Khmer Rouge-dominated Cambodian coalition government and recognize the Hanoi-backed regime in Phnom Penh.
The Nobel prize winners urged Secretary-General Javier Perez de Cuellar to "take action" to unseat the three-party coalition government that the General Assembly has recognized as legal representative of Cambodia since 1979.The 159-nation assembly will open its 43rd session Monday. The coalition government is formed by factions of Prince Norodom Sihanouk, Pol Pot's Khmer Rouge soldiers and Son Sann's nationalist movement.
Sihanouk resigned as head of the coalition in July before negotiations were held in Djakarta between his group, Vietnam and the Phnom Penh regime to seek a settlement to the Cambodian crisis. He is replaced by his son, Prince Ranarith.
Pol Pot governed Cambodia from April 1975 until he was ousted by invading Vietnamese forces in December 1978. He was held responsible for the massacre of up to 2 million Cambodians through mass executions, starvation and forced labor.
The Nobel prize winners include South African Anglican Bishop Desmond Tutu, Sir William Golding of Britain who won the literature prize, Elie Wiesel of the United States and Andre Lwoff of France,who won the medicine prize.