Hello, Goodbye

"When they no longer need me, they will spit me out like a cherry pit," Prince Norodom Sihanouk once said of Cambodia's new Khmer Rouge rulers. He had good reason for his apprehension. As head of state during the 1960s, he had exiled, jailed or executed many of the Khmer rebels. But last week the past was officially forgotten--at least temporarily. After more than five years of exile in China, Sihanouk and his wife, Princess Monique, made a triumphal return to Phnom-Penh. Traveling from Peking with the royal family was Deputy Premier Khieu Samphan, who is believed to be the real power in the new Cambodian regime.

Marching military bands and ranks of dancing children gave Sihanouk a big send-off from Peking. The welcome in Phnom-Penh was equally effusive. Cheering crowds of Khmer Rouge soldiers, Buddhist monks, civil servants and workers greeted the royal entourage at the recently repaired Pochentong Airport, focal point of last April's Communist siege of the capital. Clad in a black, tunic-style Chinese suit, Sihanouk saluted the flag, reviewed the troops and then proceeded by motorcade to the royal palace in Phnom-Penh.

Threatening Demigod. The palace, which was officially reopened for the first time since Lon Nol's 1970 military takeover from Sihanouk, may not be occupied for long. Though the Prince is formally Chief of State of the Royal Government of the National Union of Cambodia, his function within the Khmer Rouge government will probably be very limited. Revered in the countryside not merely as a monarch but as a Buddhist demigod, Sihanouk could become a serious political threat to the newly entrenched Communist leadership. His return was brokered by the Chinese, who are vying with North Viet Nam (and indirectly with the Soviet Union) for leverage in Cambodia. But the new regime in Phnom-Penh is likely to limit Sihanouk to a largely ceremonial--and remote--role as roving ambassador. He is already scheduled to make a brief October visit to the United Nations General Assembly meeting in New York City. The best indications are that he will be kept traveling at least half the time.

Two years ago in Peking, Sihanouk said: "I do not like the Khmer Rouge, and they probably do not like me. But they are pure patriots, not puppets of the Soviet Union, China or North Viet Nam, and they are honest and able." The Khmer Rouge appear to feel roughly the same way about Sihanouk.

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