Word: untac
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...than 1 million Cambodians when it ran the country during the 1970s. Officials with the United Nations Transitional authority in Cambodia say 400 Khmer Rouge guerrillas, fleeing an offensive by the Cambodian army, were evacuated by Thai army trucks and driven through Thai territory to a Khmer Rouge base. UNTAC officials wanted to announce their discovery but were overruled by officials at the U.N. headquarters in New York City who didn't want an open dispute with Thailand...
...government has taken matters into its own hands, retaking much of the lost territory in a large-scale military operation in the northern and western parts of the country. Hun Sen has offered to withdraw his troops behind a buffer zone that would be policed by U.N. troops. UNTAC officials declined; though the U.N. has the firepower, they'd rather supervise elections than try to stop the fighting...
...UNTAC also has notable achievements. The electoral process is, so far, a remarkable success. The human-rights component is spreading important ideas. The original mission of the U.N. troops, to monitor the demobilization and disarming of the factions, has been abandoned, but some of the soldiers are bringing public health and other services to villagers. The U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees has been much more successful than expected in repatriating most of the 350,000 Cambodian refugees from along the Thai border...
...despite the growing threats from the Khmer Rouge and Hun Sen's regime, the election can be brought off in most of the country, UNTAC will have given Cambodians a chance to move toward more representative government. The best outcome would appear to be a coalition between Hun Sen and the anticommunists under the state presidency of Prince Sihanouk. Some UNTAC officials suggest the inclusion of one or two Khmer Rouge in the interests of achieving real "national reconciliation...
...long term, the success or failure of the UNTAC investment will hinge on international concern and on whether, at last, Cambodian political leaders can cooperate with goodwill to address the underlying problems of their country. Yasushi Akashi, the personable Japanese who heads UNTAC, points out that UNTAC "cannot force Cambodians to be free." The international community and UNTAC need to be steadfast if Cambodians are finally to have the chance...