Cambodia - Khmer Rouge

(9 Sep 1996) T/I: 10:41:40
STORY: KHMER ROUGE
LOCATION: PHNOM MALAI, CAMBODIA
DATE: 9 SEPTEMBER, 1996
DURATION: 1.30
Ieng Sary denies role in the `Killing Fields'
Breakaway Khmer Rouge leader Ieng Sary on Monday (9/9) denied any role in the `killing fields' of the 1970s and demanded an amnesty for his renegade faction in order to open dialogue with the capital, Phnom Penh. Sary told a news conference at his faction's base here in northwest Cambodia that he would be ready to join forces with the government once an amnesty were declared. The government and the rebel faction have already reached a ceasefire and tentative peace agreement. Senior Cambodian government officials attending the news conference here said they were hopeful a royal pardon for Ieng Sary would be
forthcoming, possibly within a few days. The 67-year-old Ieng Sary, now branded a traitor by the hardline Khmer Rouge, was a foreign minister during the Khmer Rouge's reign of terror that left up to two million Cambodians dead some 20 years ago. He and Khmer Rouge leader Pol Pot were both sentenced to death in absentia for their roles in the barbaric 1975-79 government of Democratic Kampuchea. Surrounded by guerrillas in full Chinese-style uniforms, who searched journalists twice before letting them into the compound, Ieng Sary warned that a full formal peace settlement with the government would not be possible without an amnesty.
SHOWS:
PHNOM MALAI, CAMBODIA, RECENT
Journalists being searched on way into presser; More of same; Journalists outside presser; Ieng Sary CU at presser SOT in Cambodian; Cutaway soldier; CU Sary as translator SOT in English: "In 1975, when I came back from Beijing, I found Phnom Penh already a ghost city, emptied of its inhabitants. Pol Pot did not care to inform me beforehand about this inhumane decision."; Cutaway; CU Sary, as translator continues SOT : "After the liberation of Phnom Penh on
17 April, 1975, when I was appointed the duty prime minister in charge of foreign affairs, Pol Pot, under pretext of my frequent absence from Cambodia, quickly and gradually excluded me from all important decision-makings."; Exterior journalists swamping Sary; Sary surrounded by cameras making way to car.
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