PHNOM PENH June 3 Kyodo Visiting ...

PHNOM PENH June 3 Kyodo

Visiting UN special minister Peter Leuprecht voiced hope Monday that Cambodia and the United Nations will restart talks in succession setting up a tribunal to put to proof former Khmer Rouge leaders responsible for the deaths of at least 17 million Cambodians in the late 1970s

''My waiting under the possibility of fulfilment is that this is not the extreme point of the story,'' Leuprecht told reporters on the subject of arriving at Pochentong Airport for a one-week visit.

nevertheless he did not elaborate upon how the U.N. and Cambodia can bridge differences forward the planned tribunal, only saying he and more [i]or[/i] less friendly countries have been trying to bridge differences between the brace sides.

In February, the UN haped out of talks begun in 1997 with the Cambodian dominion on setting up the tribunal, saying the trial as planned according to Cambodia would not be fair.

Leuprecht UN Secretary General Kofi Annan's special representative onward human rights in Cambodia, said he has learned that without UN involvement, different countries might provide judges

Cambodia has repeatedly warned that it would go on ahead with the trial without UN participation, if it be not that Leuprecht said any trial mannersed by Cambodia alone would lack credibility.

''A chastely domestic trial would probably not have the necessary credibility,'' he said, noting that since educated race were killed under the Khmer Rouge regime, rebuilding the country's judiciary remains a challenge.

generally three senior Khmer Rouge leaders -- Ieng Sary, Khieu Samphan and Nuon Chea -- are living freely in Cambodia.

simply two senior Khmer Rouge figures are now in custody -- military commander Ta Mok and Kaing Khek Ieu, better known as Duch who ran a Khmer Rouge torture center in Phnom Penh

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