PHNOM PENH, Cambodia -- Helped along by a U.S. senator, Cambodia and the United Nations took a big step Saturday toward convening a court to judge Khmer Rouge leaders for genocide.
The tentative agreement on a complete tribunal plan comes after more than a year of haggling over how to bring to justice the top communist guerillas under whose rule 1.7 million Cambodians died in the late 1970s."Finally they have agreed, both sides, to exert (their) best efforts to complete all the tasks necessary to be able to have a formal agreement by June 15," Sen. John Kerry, who helped broker the deal, said after meeting with Cambodian negotiators in Phnom Penh.
The agreement for a tribunal in Cambodia led by U.N. and Cambodian judges still needs approval from the country's legislature. The United Nations has agreed to wait for a formal agreement until after parliament amends and ratifies a proposed law on the tribunal.
"As far as Cambodia is concerned, the government has given its agreement," said Om Yentieng, an aide to Prime Minister Hun Sen.
In a victory for U.N. negotiators, the sensitive issue of indictments will be handled by co-prosecutors -- one foreign, one Cambodian. That eases U.N. concerns that Cambodian jurists could have effective veto over indictments.
Cambodia first requested U.N. assistance for a tribunal in 1997. But since direct talks began over a year ago, the government has balked at U.N. demands for at least partial control of the tribunal designed to ensure international standards of justice.