Ex-Khmer Rouge Official Attacks Former Comrade But It’s Not Known If Pol Pot Is Alive To Hear Charges

Branded a traitor by his comrades and now suing for peace with his longtime enemies, Ieng Sary - a founding member of the brutal Khmer Rouge insurgency - leveled a harsh attack Friday on his oldest comrade in arms, Khmer Rouge leader Pol Pot.

Calling him a liar, a cheat and “the chief of the cruel murderers,” Ieng Sary accused Pol Pot of the kind of crimes in which he himself has been implicated, saying the Khmer Rouge leader executed people “even though they had done no wrong” and carried out purges on flimsy pretexts.

It was the first public statement by Ieng Sary, the central figure in a severe new rift in the Khmer Rouge, who according to Cambodian military officers has just returned from unspecified medical treatment to his home in the village of Phum Dong, 15 miles south of here.

Thursday, Cambodia’s co-premier, Hun Sen, shocked many of his countrymen by offering to welcome Ieng Sary back into society, although he is implicated together with Pol Pot in mass deaths - totaling, by various estimates, from hundreds of thousands to as many as 2 million - during the years of Khmer Rouge rule from 1975 to 1979.

In his statement Friday, broadcast on government radio, Ieng Sary confirmed that he was the leader of a breakaway Khmer Rouge faction that has been negotiating a truce with government forces in this trading town on the Thai border, less than three miles from the front lines of battle.

Military officers here said a truce had been reached Thursday, after four days of talks, that will allow the Khmer Rouge troops to come under the formal command of the government while retaining control of their territory and their weapons and maintaining their military rank.

The role of Pol Pot in the rift remains a mystery. It is not even clear whether he is alive or dead. Reports two months ago that he had died have still not been confirmed, and government officers who have talked with the Khmer Rouge here said they still did not know the truth.