To Where Will the Killing Fields Lead?

Evil has many friends. Which explains why Cambodia's Prime Minister Hun Sen has moved from "no" to "maybe" to "yes but" on the question of whether or not to try top leaders of the Khmer Rouge, who recently surrendered, for the genocidal regime of the 1970s. "It is not possible to predict whether there will ever be a U.N.-sponsored trial," says TIME United Nations correspondent William Dowell. "But it is possible to predict that, if there is a trial, not much will come from it."

All sides in the never-ending Cambodian civil war and all their foreign sponsors, including the United States, "have used the Khmer Rouge to pursue their own political interests in the region at one time or another," says Dowell. "And all are reluctant to talk about their relationship with the Khmer Rouge." The neighboring Thais, to take one example, "have long used Khmer Rouge control of western Cambodia to obtain access to gem mines and lumber," says Dowell. Because no one, including Hun Sen himself, wants to publicize their connections, the negotiations for a trial are now stuck on how broad the proceedings should be. This week Hun Sen told the U.N. that any trial must not undermine the county's efforts at reconciliation. That was not just a call to keep a lid on any revelations but also a very practical assessment. "Cambodia remains a country under the control of rival warlords, "says Dowell, and Hun Sen is not about to unleash a process that could destabilize his tenuous hold on the country.