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PHNOM PENH, Cambodia -- In tone and spirit, Karl Marx Quay, the site of this unfortunate city's first new hotel in 30 years, is more than half a world away from the Place de la Concorde, the Parisian monument to reconciliation that provides a suitable setting for the Hotel Crillon.That's fine with Jean-Marie Bertron who, with wanderlust in his heart, gave up his post as concierge at the Crillon to come to Phnom Penh, to practice his affable and pleasing arts on a worthy target, the Hotel Cambodiana, which opened in July.

THE TOP headline last week from Cambodia was the surprise announcement by King Norodom Sihanouk, its monarch for much of the last six decades, that he plans to abdicate. The mercurial 81-year-old king - often ill and ensconced in a palatial Beijing guesthouse - survived World War II, his country's independence struggle with France, massive covert U.S. bombing, one of history's most horrifying reigns of terror under the radical Maoists known as the Khmer Rouge, invasion by Vietnam, and years of internecine political warfare that still afflicts Cambodia.

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia -- Two months after the Paris peace agreement on Cambodia, the relatively slow pace of deployment of U.N. peacekeeping troops is creating a sense of instability in the country, and there are fears that this could lead to upheaval, according to Cambodian officials and Western diplomats.Although a cease-fire has been largely honored by the four factions in Cambodia's civil war, guerrilla leaders admit that their troops are increasingly hard to discipline and that banditry in the countryside has escalated sharply.

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia -- Trying to quell international criticism and domestic panic, Cambodia's de facto leader, Second Prime Minister Hun Sen, yesterday promised free and fair elections and urged human rights organizations and the media to continue their work.Meanwhile, King Norodom Sihanouk, in an extraordinary statement from Beijing, where he is living, said he would not oppose a move to replace his son, ousted First Prime Minister Prince Norodom Ranariddh, with another member of the royalist FUNCINPEC party.

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia -- The government imposed a nighttime curfew in Phnom Penh yesterday in an effort to prevent further unrest after violent street protests swept the capital Saturday night.At least three people were killed and more than 25 injured in clashes Saturday night following a week of demonstrations, the first in more than 16 years, that seemed chiefly directed at widespread government corruption.The government, however, charged that the Khmer Rouge guerrilla group had provoked the actions as part of an "armed insurrection with political aims."

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia -- The first returns from Cambodia's first multiparty election in more than two decades showed an early lead yesterday for the opposition party associated with Prince Norodom Sihanouk.Although the United Nations released partial vote counts from only four of Cambodia's 21 provinces and warned against early predictions of the final outcome, the returns were consistent in each province. They showed the royalist opposition party in first place by a sizable margin, followed by the governing Cambodian People's Party, with the 18 other parties far behind.

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia -- Michael Hayes, editor of the Phnom Penh Post, dubbed Secretary of State Warren Christopher's one-day visit here yesterday "Sideshow Two: The Rerun."He was alluding to the William Shawcross book "Sideshow: Nixon, Kissinger and the Destruction of Cambodia," which told how, during the Vietnam War, the United States drew Cambodia out of its neutrality and into a tragic sequence of civil wars, death and destruction."You are entering a new era here, with new opportunities for greatness and democracy," Mr. Christopher told King Norodom Sihanouk last night in a meeting at the palace.

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia -- Two months after the Paris peace agreement on Cambodia, the relatively slow pace of deployment of U.N. peacekeeping troops is creating a sense of instability in the country, and there are fears that this could lead to upheaval, according to Cambodian officials and Western diplomats.Although a cease-fire has been largely honored by the four factions in Cambodia's civil war, guerrilla leaders admit that their troops are increasingly hard to discipline and that banditry in the countryside has escalated sharply.

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia -- The campaign to brin democracy to Cambodia two decades after it degenerated into genocide and Communist rule ended yesterday with political rallies, parades and occasional gunfire.On Sunday, about 4.7 million Cambodian voters will begin six days of balloting to choose leaders from among 20 new political parties. The multiparty elections are the first since 1972 and are being held under the eyes of a huge U.N. task force.But there is widespread fear that the nation's fragile new political system -- established at a cost of billions of dollars and involving 22,000 U.N. personnel and 50,000 Cambodians -- might not survive what is supposed to be a cooling-off period between now and Sunday.

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia -- Trying to quell international criticism and domestic panic, Cambodia's de facto leader, Second Prime Minister Hun Sen, yesterday promised free and fair elections and urged human rights organizations and the media to continue their work.Meanwhile, King Norodom Sihanouk, in an extraordinary statement from Beijing, where he is living, said he would not oppose a move to replace his son, ousted First Prime Minister Prince Norodom Ranariddh, with another member of the royalist FUNCINPEC party.

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia -- If Cambodia is to have a new strongman, Hun Sen has the right resume, according to his friends and enemies.The second prime minister, who controls Phnom Penh after a coup d'etat last weekend, is described as a masterful politician with a record of astutely manipulating Cambodia's vertiginous political scene to his advantage.While Hun Sen's admirers say he has always been careful to operate within the bounds of the law, long before the takeover critics charged that he intimidated opponents and sponsored violence to further his political agenda.

BATTAMBANG, Cambodia -- You see the signs of trouble within the first few miles on Highway 5, the road leading from Phnom Penh west to Battambang.In early morning it is already choked with traffic, because guerrillas have once again blown up the railroad. Moreover, the road is less pavement than gravel and potholes, overseen by government soldiers who set up illegal roadblocks and demand bribes for passage.The 175-mile trip takes seven hours, and it leads to the front line of Cambodia's civil war, a conflict seeming without end, fought between the government and the Khmer Rouge.

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia -- Michael Hayes, editor of the Phnom Penh Post, dubbed Secretary of State Warren Christopher's one-day visit here yesterday "Sideshow Two: The Rerun."He was alluding to the William Shawcross book "Sideshow: Nixon, Kissinger and the Destruction of Cambodia," which told how, during the Vietnam War, the United States drew Cambodia out of its neutrality and into a tragic sequence of civil wars, death and destruction."You are entering a new era here, with new opportunities for greatness and democracy," Mr. Christopher told King Norodom Sihanouk last night in a meeting at the palace.

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia -- Prince Norodom Sihanouk, Cambodia's former monarch, announced yesterday that he had formed a coalition government in which he would serve as prime minister and supreme military commander, only to abandon the plan this morning in the midst of what appears to be a long-running family psychodrama pitting the prince against one of his sons.The son, Prince Norodom Ranariddh, had originally been named deputy prime minister in the newly proclaimed National Government of Cambodia.

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia -- The first returns from Cambodia's first multiparty election in more than two decades showed an early lead yesterday for the opposition party associated with Prince Norodom Sihanouk.Although the United Nations released partial vote counts from only four of Cambodia's 21 provinces and warned against early predictions of the final outcome, the returns were consistent in each province. They showed the royalist opposition party in first place by a sizable margin, followed by the governing Cambodian People's Party, with the 18 other parties far behind.

Phnom Penh, Cambodia. -- Imagine a three-story yellow stucco schoolhouse with tiled floors and whirring ceiling fans pushing 90 degree heat out the open windows, beyond the balustrade to the paddy fields that subsume the outskirts of Cambodia's capital, Phnom Penh.This school is an historic place. It has outlasted several generations of violence. It may outlast several more. It was to this school that I was brought, from Baltimore, to train a cross-section of Cambodian society as interpreters for the first Cambodian elections in 38 years.

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia -- Prince Norodom Sihanouk, Cambodia's former monarch, announced yesterday that he had formed a coalition government in which he would serve as prime minister and supreme military commander, only to abandon the plan this morning in the midst of what appears to be a long-running family psychodrama pitting the prince against one of his sons.The son, Prince Norodom Ranariddh, had originally been named deputy prime minister in the newly proclaimed National Government of Cambodia.

A headline about the Cambodian elections in The Sun yesterday referred to the Khmer Rouge as Communists. Though the Khmer Rouge was Marxist through the mid-1980s, the political party of which it is a part now formally espouses "democratic socialism" rather than Marxism-Leninism.The Sun regrets the error.PHNOM PENH, Cambodia -- Prince Norodom Sihanouk, Cambodia's head of state, announced yesterday that he has abandoned plans to set up a coalition government that included the Khmer Rouge. He said internationally supervised elections this week proved that the Maoist rebels had no place in Cambodia's future.

A headline about the Cambodian elections in The Sun yesterday referred to the Khmer Rouge as Communists. Though the Khmer Rouge was Marxist through the mid-1980s, the political party of which it is a part now formally espouses "democratic socialism" rather than Marxism-Leninism.The Sun regrets the error.PHNOM PENH, Cambodia -- Prince Norodom Sihanouk, Cambodia's head of state, announced yesterday that he has abandoned plans to set up a coalition government that included the Khmer Rouge. He said internationally supervised elections this week proved that the Maoist rebels had no place in Cambodia's future.

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia -- There are 20 political parties of all descriptions battling it out in this week's general elections in Cambodia. But in many respects, the most significant -- and certainly the most terrifying -- force in the country is the party watching angrily from the sidelines.The missing group is the Khmer Rouge, known to most Cambodians simply as the dreaded "angkar": The Organization.The Khmer Rouge signed the October 1991 peace agreement, which gave the United Nations the authority to conduct "free and fair" elections for a new parliament.