CORE DONORS UPDATED ON KHMER ROUGE TRIBUNAL ARE

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 PHNOM PENH 000841 SIPDIS STATE FOR EAP/MLS, P, D, IO, DRL, S/WCI USUN FOR M. SIMONOFF E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/10/2018 TAGS: PREL KJUS PGOV EAID PHUM CB SUBJECT: CORE DONORS UPDATED ON KHMER ROUGE TRIBUNAL ARE UNITED IN ADDRESSING THE CORRUPTION ISSUE REF: USUN 872 (NOTAL) Classified By: ACTING DCM GREGORY LAWLESS FOR REASONS 1.4 (B,D) ¶1. (C) SUMMARY: Khmer Rouge Tribunal (KRT) Deputy Director Knut Rosandhaug and UNDP Country Director Jo Scheuer October 9 briefed core donors on their recent trip to New York to follow up on the conclusion of ASG David Tolbert's mission to the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC). Rosandhaug declared that the UN Office of Legal Affairs, leading other key UN actors, fully supported Tolbert's recommendations, including to seek the immediate removal of Cambodian ECCC Director Sean Visoth (reftel). "There is no place for corruption in a court supported by the UN," Rosandhaug said. The Head of OLA delivered such a message to Cambodia's PermRep at the UN and separately replied to two letters from Cambodian DPM Sok An. The UNSYG's personal secretary placed a phone call to the Cambodian head of delegation to the UNGA, Secretary of State Ouch Borith, with a similar message. An OLA delegation led by its ASG deputy presently planned to travel to Cambodia in the first week of November and would likely bring the issue to a head at that time, Rosandhaug indicated. The French Ambassador proposed to the assembled donors that they prepare the ground for the OLA visit. Donors Japan, Australia, Germany, the EU, and UK agreed that each embassy should work its own RGC contacts to seek a satisfactory conclusion to the corruption issue. END SUMMARY. ¶2. (C) In a meeting hosted by the French Embassy, Rosandhaug and Scheuer gave a point-by-point, factual summary of their trip to New York. For UNDP, Scheuer said that they would continue to support the KRT on the Cambodian side through the Project Board, if/IF the donor community resolved the current crisis and continued to support that role. Rosandhaug detailed that inasmuch as Prime Minister Hun Sen did not attend the UNGA and the UNSYG could not talk to him there, the UNSYG's chief of staff (a Korean national and personal advisor) called MFA SecState Ouch Borith in New York on September 24 or 25 to relay the SYG's "bottom line" -- corruption can play no role in a court supported by the UN and urgent measures need to be taken by the RGC. ¶3. (C) The Japanese head of OLA sent to the Cambodian UN PermRep in New York similar talking points under a Note Verbale, said Rosandhaug. Finally, the OLA head also sent on September 26 a reply to two letters OLA had received from Deputy Prime Minister Sok An in the previous month. The letter contained a rebuttal to some of the allegations and demands in Sok An's letter (and "categorically pushed back") while stating the principle that the UN "does not accept corruption" and that "urgent measures are needed." ¶4. (C) Rosandhaug attempted to convince the donors that time was running out for the UN, which was seen by the Cambodian people as the "police" of the KRT and its conscience. If nothing could be done by the time of the OLA visit during the first week of November or agreed during the visit, then "dramatic steps may be taken," he said. He also said that defense lawyers' inquiries into corruption charges and a new inquiry from "some judges" to OLA meant that the UN was "losing control" and that corruption charges could play out during the trial hearings. ¶5. (C) Rosandhaug noted that a major priority was the removal of Sean Visoth and that other criteria for moving forward -- which David Tolbert had handed to Sok An during a personal meeting -- could follow later. ¶6. (C) French Ambassador Desmazieres proposed that the goal of all embassies would be to prepare the ground for the OLA mission. He suggested embassies pursue the issue through the usual bilateral contacts and that it be informal. When asked about a common demarche, the Japanese DCM said that a common or formal demarche would not obtain a good result and that it would be seen as confrontational. Such a move would make the donors appear to be on one side only, he noted, and they could then not act as the needed "bridge" between the two sides. Australian Ambassador Adamson agreed that a joint demarche would be the last possible step to take, somewhere PHNOM PENH 00000841 002 OF 002 down the road. ¶7. (C) A number of embassies noted that a key Cambodian KRT staffer who often publicly voices what are known to be RGC views was "not flexible", but was "lightening" up, indicating compromise might be possible. All agreed that the effort to effect Visoth's removal would have to be concerted and strong, aiming at a "political solution." ¶8. (C) COMMENT: Rosandhaug conveyed a sense of urgency to the donors, many of whom received this same briefing in New York (ref). As they have been in past meetings, donors were unanimous in the assessment that action needed to be taken to convince the RGC of the immediacy of the problem and the efficacy of a political solution. Charge will approach appropriate government interlocutors at every available opportunity to repeat the message regarding the needed change to address corruption on the Cambodian side of the court. CAMPBELL