FRANCE is ending its support to the paratroop Regiment 911 and scaling down its training
of the national military police in a shake-up of its military cooperation to Cambodia.
But the French Embassy in Phnom Penh has publicly discounted the possibility that
it will sever all links with the controversial military police, whose officers have
been accused of crimes.
The key cuts to French aid to the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces (RCAF) will be to
Regiment 911 and to an RCAF officer "retraining" program.
However, France is considering a more ambitious project - the establishment of a
military academy to train new officers for Cambodia's air, ground and navy forces.
French Embassy military attaché Colonel Thierry Le Pelletier said France was
reducing its military cooperation because of cuts to France's national budget.
He would not say how much may be cut from France's annual $5 million military contribution
to Cambodia; nor would he say how much had already been spent on Regiment 911, the
military police and other military programs.
But France would soon withdraw its instructors of Regiment 911 soldiers, with Cambodia
taking over responsibility for their future management and training, he said.
911 was formed in 1994, with French and Indonesian support, intended to be an elite
fighting force to spearhead the army's campaign against the Khmer Rouge.
About 230 of the regiment's 1000 soldiers were sent to Indonesia for training. A
further 400 were trained in Cambodia by French instructors in subjects such as military
tactics, hand-to-hand combat, and emergency first aid.
"The regiment is nearly trained," said Le Pelletier. "We think that
we have given them impetus to begin. It is the turn of the Khmers to deal with this
force."
911, at least some of whose soldiers are understood to have been given guns by Indonesia,
took part in this year's dry-season offensive against the Khmer Rouge. In their first
key battle, a 57-member squad of the regiment lost ten of its soldiers in an ambush
near the Thai border in northwest Cambodia.
Le Pelletier dismissed the possibility that France would also end its support to
the national military police, but confirmed it would reduce the unit's French instructors
from four to two.
"The Khmer instructors we have trained will keep on teaching the men we have
not trained yet," said the military attaché.
France has trained about 1,000 out of the 4,500 military police (MP) force since
it was formally established in 1994, modeled on the French gendarmerie.
The MPs were intended to be an independent force to police Cambodia's military by
investigating crimes by rogue soldiers and ensuring military discipline.
In fact, some MPs, particularly in Phnom Penh, have themselves been accused of crimes
and of being used for political purposes.
Allegations against MPs have been reported by Khmer newspapers and Western media.
Last October, heavily-armed MPs were used to forcibly clear thousands of people who
attended a controversial Buddhist Liberal Democratic Party congress in the Capital.
In January, Minister of Justice Chem Snguon wrote to the Ministers of Interior and
Defense to complain about a group of MPs - who he said were loyal to the national
military police commander Kieng Savuth - who had for years prevented court staff
from serving an eviction notice to a Phnom Penh property owner with links to the
military.
France itself is known to have sought Savuth's removal, threatening to cut its aid
to the MPs if he didn't go - a threat it has not enforced; Savuth remains in charge.
Publicly, the French Embassy is sticking by the MPs.
"We will keep on working with the military police until the end of 1996 and
certainly for longer," said Le Pelletier, adding that France had been involved
only "on the fringes" of the MPs.
Le Pelletier said he had never heard of Snguon's letter. MPs may have been involved
in some abuses of power, he said, but "no more than" other police, army
or customs officials.
He noted that the MPs were not independent from RCAF control, and suggested that
was one reason for abuses.
"The Khmers took soldiers, gave them military police uniforms and said 'Here,
the military police force is created'.
"From then, we had to give them training in military subjects but also on human
rights."
Each of the 1,000 military police officers France had trained had received three-months
instruction, he said.
Meanwhile, another element of France's military cooperation - the retraining of existing
RCAF officers - would soon be suspended, he said.
Instead of continuing such training - which about 1,000 officers had received since
1994 - France was considering establishing an officer training school for new military
recruits.
"We will concentrate on the creation of a proper military academy for officers.
It will be an academy for the three forces: ground forces, navy and air force,"
said Le Pelletier.
"We will recruit the students after an examination and teach them general subjects
as well as military instruction."
An 18-month course for 80 students, taught by six French officers, was proposed.
But no final decision had been made and he did not know how much money France might
put into the academy.
France was continuing another part of its military cooperation to Cambodia, the provision
of advisers to RCAF administration and logistics offices.
France started its military cooperation, then worth $10 million, in 1994.
Since then, it has cut its funding to $5 million a year, out of a total French aid
budget for Cambodia of about $50 million.
