A SPECIAL envoy from the Group of Seven industrial countries arrived in Phnom Penh yesterday. the first of two representatives expected to express the G7's concern about political chaos in Cambodia. Mr Claude Martin, the French Foreign Ministry's deputy secretary general, did not speak to reporters at Phnom Penh's airport on his arrival.
Mr Yukio Imagawa, a former Japanese ambassador in Phnom Penh, was due in Cambodia later yesterday. The envoys arrived as political tension ran high due to a long running feud between the country's two prime ministers and as speculation mounted about the fate of the Khmer Rouge guerrilla chief, Pol Pot.
Cambodia's First Prime Minister, Prince Norodom Ranariddh, said earlier yesterday that he would inform the G7 envoys about Pol Pot, who was captured last week by a breakaway rebel faction in northern Cambodia.
The notorious but ailing Khmer Rouge supremo has been captured by a splinter group of his Maoist movement which turned against him. Pol Pot (69) is believed to be held hostage by his former comrades in the Khmer Rouge stronghold of Anlong Veng.
Negotiations with the rebels on the handover of Pol Pot to the government were continuing, Prince Ranariddh said.
The G7 leaders, who met in Denver last weekend, called for an end to the political chaos and violence in Cambodia which they said threatened to shatter the relative stability since UN sponsored elections in 1993. At the end of their summit, the G7 urged Cambodia's fractious leaders to "demonstrate their commitment to holding a free and fair elections by setting a specific date".
Prince Ranariddh said on Tuesday that he and his partner in the country's uneasy ruling coalition, Second Prime Minister Hun Sen, had agreed to hold a general election next May. The prince's royalist party won the 1993 election but agreed to form the coalition with Mr Hun after he questioned the results. Mr Hun led the communist government which ruled the country before the UN organised peace process.
Relations between the two premiers deteriorated sharply last year after Prince Ranariddh demanded that he be given a greater share of power to govern in the provinces. The government is deadlocked with the national assembly unable to reconvene in April as scheduled, preventing the passing of key legislation.
Last week, bodyguards loyal to the two prime ministers fought a gun battle on the streets of the capital, which left two of Prince Ranariddh's men dead.
The disintegrating Khmer Rouge has also become a key issue of contention between the two men, with both seeking political advantage as the movement splits.
The US Secretary of State, Ms Madeleine Albright, meanwhile, has cancelled a visit to Cambodia due to security concerns. "It would have taken extraordinary security measures" to carry out the planned two day visit, State Department spokesman Mr Nicholas Burns said yesterday.
Despite Ms Albright's decision, a Japanese envoy and a European; envoy were due in Phnom Penh yesterday to carry the G7 summit; message that Cambodia should halt the political violence and tensions.
. Thai paratroopers yesterday detained two Khmer Rouge guerrillas as they crossed into Thailand carrying $300,000 (about £200,000), military sources said.