| Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge |
| The Khmer Rouge ("Red Khmers") - a coin termed initially by the then Cambodian king Norodom Sihanouk in the 1950s - are infamous for the mass killing of their own people during the 1970s following their victory in the civil war against the US-backed regime of Lon Nol. The Khmer Rouge was led by a core of people known as the "Party Center" and comprised of Nuon Chea, Chhit Choeun (aka Mok), Khieu Samphan, Ieng Sary, Son Sen, Yun Yat, Ieng Thirith, Ke Pauk and, most infamously of all, Saloth Sar who is better known as Pol Pot. The civil war began in 1970 when the Khmer Rouge, backed by North Vietnamese and Viet Cong troops, began an insurgency against government forces, swiftly gaining control of two thirds of Cambodia. K.R. troops increased in numbers from 3,000 at the start to 30,000 in 1973 which enabled most of the Viet forces to withdraw. On April 17, 1975, the civil war ended when the capital, Phnom Penh, fell to the communist regime. What followed was horror for the population. The state was renamed 'Democratic Kampuchea" and a programme of purifying the people was instigated, intellectuals were shot, the rest mainly herded out of urban centres into the countryside and forced to work on collective farms, and institutions such as banking and religion were abolished. Schools were closed down, currency was scrapped and essential utilities such as toilets were made communal. Of a population of 7 or 8 million in 1975, some 1.5 million died either as a result of execution, starvation, disease and forced labour. The K.R. also attempted to win back lost territory from Vietnam, historically Cambodian but over the past 500 years annexed by their neighbour, a rash move as Vietnam's army was far superior not only in numbers, but in quality too. On December 25, 1978, Vietnamese troops crossed the border in retaliation and within two weeks had seized the capital and brought to an end the government of Democratic Kampuchea. This was, however, not the end of the story as the K.R. maintained an army of 30,000 close to the Thai border and retained the UN's officially recognised status as the legal government. Pol Pot joined forces with former premier Sihanouk and non-communist leader Son Sann in 1982 to form a coalition government. Pot was succeeded three years later by Samphan as leader of the Khmer Rouge but it was believed by many that Pot continued to hold real power. In 1991 all Cambodian factions signed a disarming treaty and a UN-backed election took place, with the following year seeing the UN taking over the administration. The Khmer Rouge then withdrew from the coalition and began fighting again, disputing the results of the election. In 1996 they lost nearly 75% of their forces (3,000-4,000 soldiers) in mass defections and in-fighting in 1997 led to Pol Pot's arrest and imprisonment by the K.R. Factional fighting continued in 1998 but Pol Pot died in April and Samphan surrendered in 1998. By 1999 most of the Khmer Rouge members had surrendered, defected or had been captured. |