Thai Foreign Minister Surin Pitsuwan has supported reports that former Khmer Rouge leader Pol Pot has fled Cambodia, but the exact whereabouts of the architect of the country's 'killing fields' remain unclear.
'Our source said he is not in Cambodia, but I cannot confirm where he is now.
'Definitely, he is not in Thailand,' Mr Surin told The Nation in Bangkok. Yesterday Mr Surin said he had heard of Pol Pot's disappearance last week ahead of reports by two Cambodian newspapers, Koh Santepheap and Udom Kateak, that he was no longer in Cambodia.
Chinese diplomats in Phnom Penh and Bangkok have denied reports the notorious 'Brother No 1' - whose 1975-79 regime of terror led to the deaths of an estimated two million people - had escaped from the Khmer Rouge stronghold of Anlong Veng in Cambodia's north with assistance from China.
A Foreign Ministry official in Beijing said yesterday: 'It is well known that the Chinese Government no longer has any contact with the Khmer Rouge. The rumour of Pol Pot having medical treatment in Beijing is completely unfounded.' Resistance commander General Nhiek Bun Chhay said last week a deal between the current Khmer Rouge leadership and China - which supported the Khmer Rouge during the 1970s - had been cobbled together amid fears government forces may soon attack and capture Anlong Veng.
'If they capture Anlong Veng and Pol Pot, a subsequent trial would reveal Chinese complicity and the role that other Khmer Rouge leaders played in the Cambodian genocide,' he said.