Page 5 - Cambodia Destination Guide - Alluring Asia

Vietnam. The withdrawal of French colonial forces PRESENT SCENE from Cambodia led to the complete independence of To stop the reign of terror largely ignored by the Cambodia on 9 November 1953 and the triumphant outside world, Vietnamese forces invaded and took return of Sihanouk to Phnom Penh. Sihanouk abdicated Phnom Penh on 7 January 1979. Vietnam's occupation in 1955 - absolute monarchies being no longer popular of Cambodia was condemned by the United Nations in Asia - but he has remained the principal political and unpopular with many Cambodians, who have leader to the present day. traditionally disliked the Vietnamese, but nobody else seemed willing to put an end to the holocaust of the THE KHMER ROUGE Khmer Rouge. Resistance to Vietnamese rule was Sihanouk may have enjoyed an almost semi divine organized by the Khmer Rouge from their bases on the status with the Cambodian peasantry, but his intractable Thai border and several other groups such as the problems with both right-and left--wing political forces Sihanuouk National Army (ANS), headed by Sihanouk, led to his downfall in March 1970 and the seizure of the and the anti-Communist Khmer People's National government by Army Commander Lon Noi. Lon Noi Liberation Front (KPNLF), headed by Son Sann, a immediately abolished the monarchy, proclaimed a former prime minister under Sihanouk. republic, and started his war against the communist rebels - nicknamed the Khmer Rouge or "Red Khmers" After 11 years of occupation and under considerable by the deposed Sihanouk. pressure from the Soviet Union, the Vietnamese withdrew from Cambodia in September 1989, leaving The Khmer Rouge seized Phnom Penh on 17 April 1975 behind a Vietnamese installed caretaker government and soon began one of the world's most horrific reigns under the control of President Heng Samrin and Prime of terror. To finalize their goal of a Maoist-style Minister Hun Sen. Although an imposed government agrarian society, Pol Pot and his Khmer Rouge will never be popular, most outside observers and evacuated the cities and forced entire populations into many Cambodians appreciate the efforts of the slave labor. Currency was abolished, newspapers Vietnamese to stop the Khmer Rouge and feel that Hun outlawed, postal services halted, and the Cambodian Sen has been a fair and essentially effective leader. calendar was reset to "Year Zero." During their 44- month rule, the Khmer Rouge murdered over a million people in an orgy of death unmatched since the days of Adolf Hitler. But statistics are misleading: the percentage of population slaughtered by the Khmer Rouge is an unchallenged world's record.