/ 17 January 1999

TUTU TO ADVISE ON CAMBODIA TRIALS

THE expertise of South Africa’s Archbishop Desmond Tutu could be called upon to help with plans to put on trial leaders of the Khmer Rouge, according to Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen. “We are looking at the South African example of a Truth and Reconciliation Commission as an interesting one, where they have the end of apartheid and a level of justice and peace,” he said. There have been mounting calls for a trial for Khmer Rouge leaders following last month’s defection of nominal leader Khieu Samphan and ideologue Nuon Chea — both architects of the 1975 to 1979 Pol Pot regime that claimed up to two million lives through torture, execution, overwork and starvation.