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UN peacekeepers patrol the streets of Phnom Penh in an armoured personnel carrier, Cambodia on Aug 27, 1993. (Photo: Reuters) - 

Just over 30 years ago, a crackling radio in a refugee camp on the Thai border brought Sam Sophal word that the United Nations was coming to his war-ravaged homeland of Cambodia. 

For Sam Sophal, who survived the Khmer Rouge genocide only because his mother bribed Khmer Rouge executioners with her silver watch, the promise of peace was irresistible.

The UN Transitional Authority in Cambodia (UNTAC) arrived on Mar 15, 1992, with great expectations, the first UN nation-building operation after the collapse of the Soviet Union sparked hope that democracy would flourish around the world.

But long before last year's shambolic fall of Afghanistan and the costly international missions in Iraq, Kosovo and elsewhere, Cambodia would serve as an early warning of the flaws and limitations of nation building. 

At the time, UNTAC was the most ambitious and expensive UN mission but despite its US$1.6 billion cost and US$20 billion in subsequent international aid, hopes of creating a vibrant democracy faded long ago.

"I felt very proud during the UNTAC time because I was the first generation to bring peace to Cambodia," says Sam Sophal, 60, who got a job as a translator with the mission soon after its launch.

"Now I see we have gone backwards. To one-party rule," he said under the shade of a Jujube tree in his Phnom Penh backyard.

Prime Minister Hun Sen, the same man in power before the UNTAC mission, remains leader, presiding over what critics call an authoritarian government with most opposition leaders in exile or in jail. 

Government spokesman Phay Siphan rejects accusations that Hun Sen is an autocrat, saying he has worked for peace and democracy since 1979.

The United Nations said in a statement UNTAC's original mandate of "restoring to the Cambodian people and their democratically elected leaders their primary responsibility for peace, stability, national reconciliation and reconstruction had been fulfilled". 

A prophecy that foretold of a "god with blue eyes" that would one day bless and restore the land had spread through villages during Cambodia's darkest years.

So when UNTAC arrived with their sky-blue flag and helmets they were seen as an incarnation of that deity, some even painting their homes a UN shade of blue, recalled Youk Chhang, executive director of the Documentation Center of Cambodia. 

UNTAC's main triumphs were bringing hundreds of thousands of refugees home from border camps in time for the May 1993 election, when almost 90 per cent of voters turned out//CNA