World Notes Cambodia

Last week the first 527 refugees from camps in Thailand moved back to Cambodia to start a new life -- the first step in the repatriation of some 375,000 people driven from their country by a 13-year civil war. But the homecoming cannot go much further until U.N. peacekeeping troops, who will soon number 16,000, are able to defuse a battle in Kompong Thom province between ^ government forces and heavily armed Khmer Rouge units.

The battle began in January as the Khmer Rouge moved to seize more territory before the U.N. begins disarming rival forces. Khmer Rouge units under the ruthless leader Ta Mok cut Highway 12, severing the major link to the northern province of Preah Vihear. The Khmer Rouge, whose 1975-79 reign of terror resulted in more than 1 million deaths, spurned repeated U.N. mediation efforts, as did the Phnom Penh regime. A midweek parley seemed to break the ice -- for now -- and a U.N. squad was dispatched to the disputed turf. But the U.N. cannot impose peace in Kompong Thom -- or anyplace else in Cambodia. It can only make it possible for the Cambodians to do so themselves.