Cambodia says it will go ahead with war-crimes trials for the country's former Khmer Rouge rulers without U.N. assistance.

The United Nations broke off more than four years of negotiations Friday and said it was withdrawing from an effort to convene an international war-crimes court for Cambodia.

U.N. officials say Secretary General Kofi Annan decided to pull out of the talks after the Cambodian government insisted its laws should take precedence over all other rules governing U.N. assistance to the court. U.N. counsel Hans Corell said the court's objectivity, impartiality, and independence could not be guaranteed.

The United States and France each say they hope the United Nations and Cambodia will resume talks.

Khmer Rouge rule in Cambodia was relatively brief -- less than four years (from 1975 to 1979) -- but marked by brutality. Leaders of the Khmer Rouge are blamed for the deaths of up to one-point-seven million people.

Most Khmer Rouge troops eventually defected or surrendered. The militia's leaders were arrested after Cambodia's monarchy was restored in 1993.

There are only two former Khmer Rouge leaders currently in custody.

The proposed trial is a controversial issue in Cambodia. Some analysts have expressed concern the move could plunge the country into civil war.

(reuters, ap, afp, corben cr)

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