PRIME MINISTER
EMBARGO: AGAINST DELIVERY
STATEMENT BY THE PRIME MINISTER, THE HON P. J. KEATING MP
CAMBODIA PEACEKEEPING
Mr Speaker
it LB appropriate that the House focus today on the subject
of Cambodia, and on the prospects for 8 lasting peace in
that long-suffering country.
Great crimes have been committed against the Cambodian
people. The tragedy of the conflict has been brought home
to us all through the personal wItness of many Cambodian
Australians. On 28 February, the United Nations Security Council passed a
resolution formally creating the United Nations Transitional
Authority in Cambodia or UNTAC, the body responsible for
implementation of the historic Comprehensive Political
Settlement of the Cambodia Conflict.
In response to the UN Secretary General's request for
contributions to UNTAC's operations, Australia has agreed to
provide 495 Defence Force personnel to form the Force
Communications Unit..
This total includes 65 communicators already deployed as
part of the UN Advance Mission in Cambodia.
If conditions are rigpt in Cambodia, the Government expects
. that-thainsin Australian contingent will begin deploying
during this month.
They will be joined in the field by 40 signallers from the
New Zealand Defence Force.
Furthermore, Australia has provided UNTAC'S military
commander, Lieutenant-General John Sanderson, who commenced
duty in Cambodia on 15 March.' Australia will contribute six
staff to his headquarters unit.
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The Government also expects to contribute to UNTAC's
civilian component, whose composition is still under
consideration by the United Nations.
As part of. this, we have decided to provide ten police
officers. in addition, Mr Michael Maley, an officer of the Australian
Electoral Commission, has taken up duty in Phnom Penh as
Deputy Electoral Commissioner for UNTAC.
Mr Speaker
The creation of UNTAC is the Culmination of years of complex
and difficult negotiation.
The peace plan embodied in the remarkable agreements signed
in Paris on 23 October 1991 provides a way of ending the
nightmare of Cambodia's recent past.
The main objectives of the settlement are to end the civil
war, and to allow the Cambodian people to choose a new
government through genuinely free arnd fair elections.
Reflecting the complexity of the Cambodian conflict, the
Paris agreements provide for an unprecedented and ambitious
role for the United Nations In the implementation of the
peace plan.
UNTAC will have a peacekeeping role supervising, monitoring
and verifying the cease-fire, partial demobilisation of
armed forces, and the cessation of external military
assistance.
UNTAC most definitely will = t have a role enforcing or
imposing the peace if hostilities break out.
In the civilian sphere, not only will UNTAC have a role in
organising and conducting the elections, it will also play a
role in monitoring and supervising the interim
administration of the country to ensure a neutral political
environment for the elections.
in addition, the United Nations will be responsible for
coordinating and assisting the repatriation and resettlement
of some hundreds of thousands of Cambodian refugees and
displaced persons.
Mr Speaker
The Cambodia peace settlement is a striking demonstration of
the fundamental changes that have occurred in the
international System.
Unprecedented cooperation between the Permanent Five members
of the Security Council has greatly enhanced the scope for
resolving regional conflicts. The UN system has been able
to harness broad-based support for its peacekeeping role.
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The subtle and dynamic balance of interests in the Cambodia
peace agreements reflects the close involvement and
cooperation of the Permanent Five members of the Security
Council in the negotiating process.
The efforts of the Indonesian and French governments deserve
special mention. Their initiative, courage and persistence
were essential to the success of the peace plan.
Great credit must also go, of course, to the Cambodians
themselves. Those of us who have not known their suffering,
or seen the evil they have seen, can only wonder what human
qualities it takes to sit down and talk about the future,
about peace, and about national reconciliation.
Mr Speaker
Australia played 8 significant role in the long process
leading up to the Puris agreements.
In the mid 1980s, former Foreign Minister Hayden was active
in regional diplomacy which sought to identify a basis for
dialogue between the parties to the Cambodian conflict.
In late 1989, Senator Evans played a key role in breaking
the impasse following the first Paris Conference on Cambodia
in July anid August 1989. The Core of Senator Evans's
proposal, which was taken up by the Permanent Five members
of the Security Council, was an enhanced role for the United
Nations in the transitional period preceding elections in
Cambodia. Senator Evans's resourceful and energetic pursuit of peace
in Cambodia has earned him nomination for the Nobel Peace
Prize. It has also earned international respect for
Australia. Mr Speaker
in moving this resolution today I pay regard to the
achievement of Senator Evans and his Department.
In light of our diplomatic contribution, it was appropriate
that Australia was the first country to establish
accreditation to the Supreme National Council, the interim
body in which Cambodian sovereignty has been vested during
the transitional period.
Australia was also among the first to supply troops to carry
out the vital task of establishing communications and
infrastructure in preparation for the deployment of the main
UNTAC force.
It is appropriate that we now help to see the process
through.
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The return of Australian soldiers to Indo-China in the cause
of peace is a matter for us to reflect on with justifiable
pride. With peace secured in Cambodia, we shall be able to welcome
the countries of Indo-China back into the mainstream of
regional activity.
We can confidently expect them to become part-of the
dynamism of Asia.
Vietnam will now be able to emerge from its isolation and,
with Cambodia, play its part in regional and international
affairs. in parallel with the improved prospects for peace in
Cambodia, Australia will resume direct bilateral aid.
The minister for Trade and Overseas Development announced
today that, over the next four years, Australia will provide
approximately 49 million Australian dollars in development
assistance to Cambodia. This total includes 23 million
dollars for new bilateral aid.
In addition, during this financial year, we are providing
approximately 7.7 million Australian dollars in disaster
relief and assistance to displaced Cambodians.
Mr Speaker
Aspects of the comprehensive settlement have been criticised
by some observers.
it is suggested that it would somehow have been better to
exclude the Khmer Rouge from the peace process because of
their responsibility for the atrocities committed by the
former Po1 Pot regime.
Involvement of the Khmer Rouge in the process does Dot
ref lect a judgment by the Australian or other governments
that the Khmer Rouge can now be trusted. Rather, it
reflects a realistic assessment that the only available
aff~ etivA way of containing the military threat they pose,
and of ending the civil war, was to involve them and their
main backers China as parties to the agreement.
Put simply, a peace settlement without the Khmer Rouge and
China would not be a. peace settlement at all.
It has also been suggested that the settlement could have
been improved by providing for 100 per cent rather than for
at least 70 per Cent demobilisation of the armed forces of
the Cambodian parties.
obviously such a provision would have been preferable, but
the outcome set out in the Paris agreements is the best that
could be negotiated. I--1
it is the judgment of the United States, Russia, China,
France, Britain, 811 significant Asian states and Australia
that the Paris settlement represents the best available,
realistic basis for a just and durable peace in Cambodia.
Mr Speaker
UNTAC Will be the costliest, as well as the most
comprehensive peacekeeping operation yet undertaken by the
United Nations.
It is expected to involve approximately 15,900 military
personnel, 3,600 civilian police and 3,300 civilian
administrators. More than 50 countries have been requested
to contribute to this complex undertaking.
The initial UN estimate of the cost for a duration of 18
months is 1.9 billion US dollars. Australia's share of
assessed contributions for this amount is 1.51 per cent or
28.7 million US dollars.
I should also advise the House that Cabinet agreed in
October 1991 to provide supplementation to the Defence
Budget of 49 million Australian dollars to fund the
estimated costs involved in making our contribution to UNTAC
and the United Nations Advance Mission in Cambodia. This is
separate from our assessed contribution to UNTAC's budget,
described above. We expect this will eventually be
partially offset by reimbursements from the UN of some 19.7
million Australian dollars, but this will take some time to
materialise. The final UNTAC plan and budget are now being scrutinised in
New York by representatives of major donors including
Australia. It will be some weeks before the final budget is
approved.
Along with other donors, Australia hopes that, as
implementation of the settlement proceeds, an increasing
habit of cooperation among the Cambodian parties will allow
savings in UNTAC personnel and costs.
Mr Speaker
Generally speaking, the settlement is working.
In the five months since it was signed, the remarkable thing
has been not the number of violations or the number of
disputes, but the way in which the Paris agreements have
held firm, and the way in which the parties have repeatedly
reaffirmed their commitment to the settlement in all its
detail. Of course, there have been incidents Which threaten the
whole process, and the Government has viewed with particular
concern the recent fighting in Kompong Thom province. But
we must look beyond these hurdles without in any sense
trivialising them. 4"
Implementation of the peace plan may well prove more
difficult than its negotiation.
There are bound to be further setbacks.
We should expect them and not be disheartened when they
occur. The Government's decision to commit Australian forces to the
Cambodian peacekeeping operation was not taken lightly.
The UN forces will face risks from mines, from disease, from
banditry, and possibly from fresh outbreaks of fighting.
The Government has assessed these risks and has weighed them
carefully. It does not underestimate them, or the need to
take every prudent precaution to protect our troops.
We have made this commitment, however, because the
opportunity to help restore peace to Cambodia is one which
the international community cannot lightly let go.
The UN commitment to help Cambodia also serves Australia's
direct interests, and those of our neighbours, by helping to
create a more peaceful and prosperous region.
But it is important to emnphasise again that Australian
forces will n= a be participating in the UN operation in
order to 2nñ DXsu or impose~ the peace in Cambodia.
That is a task beyond the UN mandate.
Rather, the Australian forces will be in Cambodia to help
keaep a peace on which the Cambodian parties themselves have
agreed. That is the condition under which UNTAC is being deployed.
it is the whole basis of the Paris peace accords. It is the
condition under which Australian troops have been offered to
the United Nations.
if we conclude that there is no longer a peace to keep in
Cambodia, the Australian and other UN forces will have to be
withdrawn. But we do not expect that to happen. All sides in the
conflict have invested so. much effort in the peace process,
and the Cambodian people have so much to gain from its
success, that we think the prospects for a successful
outcome remain promising.
If we turn our backs on this opportunity to help consolidate
the hard work of the peace-makers, we shall be sentencing
the Cambodian people to further years of cruelty and
suffering.
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Mr Speaker
As I already mentioned, UNTAC'S primary military functions
will be supervising and verifying the cease-fire, partial
demobilisation of armed forces, and the cessation of
external military assistance.
UNTAC will also assist in the clearance of hundreds of
thousands of mines.
Australia's contingent will provide the crucial
communications network for the UNTAC military operation.
Our service men and women will be operating in a difficult
and sometimes dangerous environment.
Already Lieutenant-Colonel Russell Stuart has been wounded
in the course of his duty with the UN Advance Mission in
Cambodia. That incident underlines the risks which the
peacekeeping personnel face.
But Australians can be proud of the skill and
professionalism which Australian Defence Force units have
brought to UN peacekeeping and other operations around the
world from the Sinai, Iraq and the Red Sea, to the Western
Sahara and the Afghan border.
Their reputation is reflected in the UN Secretary-General's
decision to appoint Lieutenant-General Sanderson commander
of UNTAC'S military force.
I am sure all members of this House will join me in
extending congratulations to General Sanderson on his
appointment and in wishing him well in his assignment.
I am equally sure members will want to express their
confidence in and support for the Australian Defence Force
men and women deployed in Cambodia.
There is no more honourable duty than the one they will go
to perform to preserve the peace.
We know they will serve Australia and the cause of peace
with distinction, and we look forward to their safe return.
Mr Speaker, we hope that return will not be long delayed.
The aim of the United Nations presence in Cambodia is not to
oversee developments there Indefinitely but to manage a
transition from war to peace, from factional distrust to
national reconciliation.
May 1993 has been set as the target date for the UNorganised
elections. The UN Secretary-General intends
withdrawing UNTAC about six months after that date.
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I know it is the earnest desire of all members of this House
that the Cambodian people will seize this opportunity to
establish a j~ ust anld lasting peace in their country.
I commend the motion to the House.
CANBERRA 1 APRIL 1992
CAMBODIA PEACEKEEPING: PARLIAMIENTARIY RESOLUTION
That this H-ouse
recalls the long suffering of the Cambodian people
notes the remarkable diplomatic achievement enshrined
in the Agreements on the Comprehensive Political
Settlement of the Cambodia Conflict signed in Paris on
23 October 1991.
zre cognises the difficult task ahead of the United
N-ations Transitional Authority in Cambodia ( UNTAC),
affirms Australia's commitment to assist the Cambodian
people to take control again of their own affairs and
return to peaceful and productive lives
affirms Australia's support for the United Nations in
its new arnd enhanced role in promoting world peace and
solving long-standing regional conflicts
affirms its support for Australia's positive response
to the request made by the UN Secretary General for
support in implementing the Cambodian peace accords
expresses its full confidence in, and support for,
Australian Defence Force men and women deployed for
peacekeeping in Cambodia and looks forward to their
safe return
congratulates Lieutenant-General Sanderson on his
appointment as UNTAC military commander and wishes him
well in his assignment n 1. 1 L. I I W F