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Cease Fire – 1993

On January 4, Prince Sihanouk, Chairman of the Supreme National Council (SNC), declared his withdrawal from the peace process and cooperation with UNTAC. He claimed that the increasing political violence against his party, FUNCINPEC (a French acronym that translates into the ‘National United Front for an Independent, Neutral, Peaceful, and Cooperative CambodiaÕ), and the failure of UNTAC to curtail this violence were main reasons for his withdrawal. After meetings with UNTAC officials, Sihanouk agreed to return to the peace process a week later. In late January, the transitional government forces launched a large-scale military offensive against the Khmer Rouge.

One of the UN Chief Administrators in Cambodia, Gerard Porcell, threatened to resign, citing the reasons for resignation as the UN’s failure to stop the violence and intimidation allegedly carried out by the Khmer Rouge and the CPP (the former government), which is short for the Cambodian People’s Party. Porcell stayed until the May 1993 election.¹ According to the Sydney Morning Herald report from March 31, 1993, “the Khmer Rouge has refused to disarm, which has forced the UN to stop disarming other factions. Cease-fire violations occur almost daily, threatening a key stipulation of the accords that the election be politically neutral and free of intimidation and violence” (Sydney Morning Herald, 1993).²

1. Benny Widyono, Dancing in Shadows: Sihanouk, the Khmer Rouge, and the United Nations in Cambodia, (Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2007), 17.
2. “Cambodians Return to an Uncertain Future,” Sydney Morning Herald, March 31, 1993,10.