The Killing Pols

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PHNOM PENH, Cambodia: That rarest of things -- a U.N. peacekeeping operation that actually worked -- is now in shambles as governmental factions are engaged in a sometimes violent battle for the hearts and minds of the Khmer Rouge. With leader Pol Pot missing and presumed dead, First Prime Minister Norodom Ranariddh and communist Second Prime Minister Hun Sen, two old enemies who have shared power in Cambodia since 1993 under the U.N.-brokered peace arrangement, are battling for control of the Khmer Rouge before elections scheduled next year. That fight turned deadly today as the capital exploded in a violent confrontation between Norodom Ranariddh's bodyguards and police loyal to Hun Sen. With the country on the verge of a civil war, Madeleine Albright will try to push for a peaceful resolution when she visits the country ten days from now.