wfn.org | LWF Assembly participant delayed by coup in Cambodia

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LWF Assembly participant gets caught in coup
Finnchurchaid director stops in Cambodia

HONG KONG, July 25, 1997 (lwi) - The Rev. Dr. Tapio Saraneva, executive
director of Finnchurchaid, almost did not make it to the Lutheran World
Federation Assembly when he stopped in Phnom Penh to visit LWF world
service projects in Cambodia.

"I had visited three of the four integrated rural development programs by
Friday (July 4) and had planned to visit Ankor Wat on Saturday," he
reported. "The programs were working well. I saw people participating, the
human rights and environmental conditions were fine, and there was good
local capacity building. I saw good help for internally displaced people
and de-mining programs."

The Saturday was postponed when Saraneva heard rumors that people were
leaving the country. He saw military vehicles, and by the afternoon of July
5 the shooting started. It continued until dark. On Sunday fighting
continued all day. Then the coup was over with Han Sen in control.

LWF staff in Cambodia live close to the area of most intense fighting.
Lutheran World Service Director Philip Wijmans and his two adult children
hid in their bathroom during the day and slept under the stairs at night
until they could flee to Hotel Koldiana, where Saraneva was staying.

"A shell exploded 100 meters from the hotel," he said, "but most of the
fighting was in the distance. From the hotel roof we could see smoke
curling up from burning tanks and houses."
By Tuesday they could leave the hotel during the day, but drunken soldiers
were looting. Embassies warned their nationals not to leave the hotels. The
first charter flights left Wednesday, but Saraneva could not get out until
Friday (July 11). Wijmans and his two children remain in Phnom Penh.

"The most difficult thing was that you didn't have any idea when you'd get
out. Banks were closed. The hotel wouldn't accept credit cards. The
military situation could flare up again at any time." Sareneva said. "The
Cambodians on the LWF staff were fantastic," he said. "Even though they had
their own families' safety to worry about, the took good care of us. They
even used their life savings to help us with the cash problem."

"The most important thing from the experience is knowing that the coup
opens a new chapter in the suffering of the Cambodian people," he said. "An
estimated 100,000 people have been displaced by the coup. Most foreigners
are leaving. Investments in Cambodia will decline. The peace process that
was moving forward since the 1993 elections now is stalled. And the grass
roots people will suffer from the lack of democracy, human rights and a
rule of law," Saraneva said.

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