World Notes CAMBODIA

Stung by criticism that he has become an "accomplice" of the murderous Khmer Rouge guerrillas, Cambodian resistance leader Prince Norodom Sihanouk last week resorted to a familiar tactic. He announced yet another change in his zigzag course to a political settlement.

The Prince defended his position that a transitional government comprising the four rival Khmer factions should preside over the election of a new leadership, following a verified withdrawal of Vietnamese forces from Cambodia. But he then offered a glimmer of a concession: a recent Australian ! proposal, which skirts the issue of Khmer Rouge participation by placing the country under U.N. trusteeship, "merits consideration." However, he added, his Western supporters would have to join the Viet Nam-backed Phnom Penh government in making that a condition of a peaceful settlement.