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TIME: Almanac 1993
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TIME Almanac 1993.iso
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041392
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0413004.000
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1992-08-28
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WORLD, Page 47World NotesCAMBODIAPseudo Peace
Last week the first 527 refugees from camps in Thailand moved
back to Cambodia to start a new life -- the first step in the
repatriation of some 375,000 people driven from their country by
a 13-year civil war. But the homecoming cannot go much further
until U.N. peacekeeping troops, who will soon number 16,000, are
able to defuse a battle in Kompong Thom province between
government forces and heavily armed Khmer Rouge units.
The battle began in January as the Khmer Rouge moved to
seize more territory before the U.N. begins disarming rival
forces. Khmer Rouge units under the ruthless leader Ta Mok cut
Highway 12, severing the major link to the northern province of
Preah Vihear. The Khmer Rouge, whose 1975-79 reign of terror
resulted in more than 1 million deaths, spurned repeated U.N.
mediation efforts, as did the Phnom Penh regime. A midweek
parley seemed to break the ice -- for now -- and a U.N. squad
was dispatched to the disputed turf. But the U.N. cannot impose
peace in Kompong Thom -- or anyplace else in Cambodia. It can
only make it possible for the Cambodians to do so themselves.