Secretary-General Kofi Annan will launch an appeal in early February for contributions to finance a UN-supported tribunal in Cambodia to try aging Khmer Rouge leaders for genocide and crimes against humanity, a UN spokesman said.
Annan said last week that the process of setting up the tribunal will only begin once pledges for the first three years of the court's operation have been received and enough money for its first year has been deposited in a trust fund.
ratify agreement
UN spokesman Fred Eckhard said on Wednesday that before the court can be created, the Cambodian National Assembly must also ratify an agreement reached in June with the UN to try former leaders of the communist regime that ruled the country from 1975 to 1979.
Last week, Annan said he was "very concerned" about Cambodia's delay in implementing the agreement and called on the government to make ratification "a matter of priority."
The pact to set up a UN-assisted court was reached after nearly five years of tense negotiations. But ratification has been delayed by Cambodia's inconclusive general elections and negotiations among three political parties to form a coalition government.
highest priority
Sok An, the Cambodian government's chief negotiator, said yesterday that ratification of the tribunal pact "will be the highest priority" to be "addressed immediately" by the new legislature once it is formed.
A UN assessment team visited Phnom Penh from Dec. 8 to Dec. 13 for talks with Cambodian officials and reached tentative agreements on a number of steps to establish the court. Those included a concept of operations, a timetable for implementing key milestones, staffing and the site where the trials will be held, spokesman Fred Eckhard said.
"The main points remaining to be clarified relate to operating expenses other than staff cost and office accommodation," he said.
"It is the secretary-general's intention to launch an appeal ... in early February once an operating budget for the court has been established," Eckhard said.
The Cambodian government has estimated the trial cost to be around US$40 million to be contributed by the UN, Cambodia and donor countries.
Eckhard said that contrary to some Cambodian press reports, the UN team did not specify how many Khmer Rouge officials the court might indict, "nor was a list of names of potential indictees discussed" during talks with the Cambodian government.
court's prerogative
"It would, as a matter of fact, have been highly improper to do so since it will be the prerogative of the investigating judges and the prosecutors of the future court to make that determination," he said.
"For the purpose of drafting a budget proposal, a range of five to 10 indictees was assumed by both parties, but this figure could change depending on the investigative and prosecutorial strategy that the future court may wish to adopt," Eckhard said.
None of the Khmer Rouge leaders have been tried for the deaths of some 1.7 million people from starvation, disease, overwork and execution during its rule.
Khieu Samphan, the former Khmer Rouge head of state, and Ieng Sary, the former Khmer Rouge foreign minister, live in Cambodia. Pol Pot, the regime's leader, died in 1998.
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