POLITICAL events can occur with lightning rapidity. While after the event, many admitted to have heard ominous rumours. few appeared to have been really prepared for what followed, feast of all expatriates like myself who were returning to duty after a period of absence. (I was later told that most top Ranaridh aides including the Prince himself, had flown off. well in advance it seems, in anticipation of what followed). That fateful weekend (July 5-6) in Phnom Penh brought back memories of another event. In another time and in another place.

On the evening of August 14. 1975 (which happened to be my birthday) a few friends had gathered In our house in Dhanmondi. It was fashionable to be Maoist in those days. It was also fashionable to have long hair and facial foliage. My friends of course were quite fashionable, and being good Bengalis, the discussion easily veered off into the political arena. . Despite the (trendy) anti-BAKSAL vituperations, there was agreement on one point : the Bangabandhu was in an unassailable position. There was no alternative to the Bangabandhu, and that he would be around for atleast another ten years! Before the night was over, Sheikh Mujibur' Rahman was no more, murdered with most of his family. We awoke to the sound of automatic weapons and heard those infamous words on Dhaka Radio. My mother (an MP and minister at the time) was delirious — she was already outside when we caught up with her. trying to convince a rickshaw-puller to take her to Road 32! Surely, she was not considering leading a one-lady offensive against the coup makers? 1 imagine, murderers who do not spare children wouldn't have any qualms about bumping off a' lady in a rickshaw crying blue murder, outside Dhanmondi Road 32. But let's get back to events in PP!

Saturday morning appeared quite normal, at least to untrained eyes and ears! True there appeared to be the distant sound of gunfire and B-40 rockets — but surely that cannot be of significance in a country where the gun-culture is well advanced? After all, here, people shoot at the sky when it rains or when they are trying to get assistance from the lire ser-

vice! We switched on to CNN. which was already reporting heavy fighting in the vicinity of the airport (which happens to be quite close to my place of work). We also heard that Ranaridh could not be located in PP. What was going on? Should one worry? Were we in any danger? We had lust moved to the house from the hotel a day earlier. What were our neighbours like? 1 was very glad that we were due to have lunch with Eva (my boas — and reportedly on very close terms with Hun Sen) — she was going to come and get us at 12:15. Then, a creeping doubt. If the situation is so bad. she cannot come, right? I walked up to the main road with my wife and our restless seven-year-old. Shabab, on the appointed hour. 1 looked at my watch : 12:20. My heart sank. Eva is never late. She couldn't come. I felt insecure standing there on the road. 1 told my wife to go back into the

house. Shabab and I would give her another couple of minutes. At that point, she appeared on the horizon. Eva had spent the morning in the office trying to finish up some work related to the planned workshop on conflict resolution' (1). when the shooting started She was trying to remain calm, but the tension on her face was obvious. She tuned in to BBC on her car radio. BBC had not yet caught on to Phnom Penh. I told her what I had heard on CNN. She noted that Hun Sen was in Vietnam (was it significant she wondered). The Prince had left the country already, along with most of his top people. Would they Just run away like this, leaving Hun Sen a free reign? Eva thought that Ranaridh must have a longer term plan. Plead to donors? Start another insurgency in the North West by Joining forces with Khmer Rouge remnants? Donor pressure rarely works unless

backed up by sanctions or force. And the Prince would appear to be an unlikely leader of a guerrilla army? And at any rate, ordinary Khmers were fed up with fighting. They are fed up with war.

We could not enjoy the lunch. Our minds were not exactly focused on food. Eva took us back on her car. She asked if we had enough food, water and money. We were O.K. on those fronts — for a few days at any rate — but horror of horrors, our passports were with the Foreign Ministry for visa renewal! Eva only said. I know, may be you will have to come up and stay with me. She asked if 1 had her mobile number. I did.

The next 36 hours were completely surreal. All the shops closed down. I watched my landlord carefully hide his motor-bikes and his Cherokee Jeep. He was no longer in his semi-military uniform. His sls-

ter? wife? girl-friend? (we found it difficult to figure out who was who) only told us of bombs, rockets, every time there was an explosion, followed by no problem" perhaps trying to assure us that those were coming from a long way off. The pictures on CNN were horrendous. Yes. we could see the smoke from the fires. But could it all be that bad? Was CNN exaggerating? In the meantime, the French TV channel began displaying a communique from the French and European embassies : Do not leave your houses under any circumstances. Draw the curtains. If there is fighting in your area, go into the bathroom or in an inner room without windows. There has been heavy damage to Pochentong Airport. No flight are operating for the time being. The communique was being updated every six hours.

Our thoughts were of escape, of speculating how long this state of uncertainty would last. I cursed myself for not even bothering to registes wlth Ae British Embassy G>urx>fik$0 protector in these parts, due to the Commonwealth connection). If an evacuation was being planned, we would not even be able to provide proof of nationality. The fighting (at least in Phnom Penn) stopped by Sunday evening. The first task was to ascertain if friends and acquaintances were all right. Only Carol (a Swedish colleague) appeared to have had some close encounters. She was out with some Journalists near the airport and her car got shot through. She was tense. She said, Murshid, if you want my advice, get out of here, or atleast send your family out. Who said I wanted her advice!

A number of Khmer colleagues have been robbed at gun point. Cars, motor-bikes, computers and electronic gadgets have been looted from scores of shops and show rooms. Apparently motor-bikes were going for $20 and com-6uters for $50. Brand new lercedes cars were sighted, being driven by unlikely owners. I saw a striking photograph of a new, yellow. Mercedes being towed away by a tank. A Khmer

colleague reported that many villagers from around the city had come into town with their ox-carts on that weekend, hoping to literally cart away looted goods.

Till mid-July. normal flights out of PP were yet to resume. The gold shops had begun to open — an important barometer of normalcy here. The city turned into a ghost town after 7:00 in the evening. Most bars and restaurants remained closed. The non government banks were yet to re-open. Travelling to the provinces was unwise. Tourists nave fled from the fabled Angkor Wat. Well, Carol has gone off, Nirmal (a Bangladeshi-Australian) and his family got evacuated by the Ausies. Dominique. a Bangladeshi with the Asia Foundation was been ordered to leave. The Americans on US-funded projects must go back. The Asians (Malaysians. Philipinos. Thais. Singaporeans, Taiwanese) have been evacuated. The British advice was to go away quietly. However, everyone agreed that there was no immediate threat to security! It was likely that the (large) expatriate presence would dwindle to around 40-50 per cent of the pre-coup level. Aid has been stopped by the Japanese (one Japanese engineer died when h,Lby two

W#:. \Tne .Americans. trail ans and Germans have followed suit. Multi-laterals were staying put. The sense of dynamism and rapid growth that was In evidence a week ago, has simply evaporated. There were about 60-70 illegal or quasi-le-gal Bangladeshis in the country. They did like to get out. If it came to it, a possible escape route would have been the nearly through Ho Chi Minh city nearby. The Vietnamese said that foreigners would be allowed to get away through Ho Chi Minh if their governments so requested. Could I request the Foreign Ministry to make necessary requests to Vietnam, Thailand and to the British for possible assistance, in the event of an essential evacuation? Let me, however, reiterate — there was little sign of any immediate security concern at least in Phnom Penh. On the other hand, things have a way of changing quickly here.

The writer, an economist, researcher and consultant is currently based at the Cambodia Development Resource Institute. Phnom Penh, on a UN assignment.