Khmer Rouge

The Khmer Rouge (Khmer: , pronounced Khmaey Krahom or {{IPA|/kʰmaːe kɾɒːhɒːm/}}; French: Khmer Rouge in the masculine singular, Khmers Rouges in the plural) was a Communist organization which ruled Cambodia from 1975 to 1979. The term "Khmer Rouge," meaning "Red Khmer" in French, was coined by francophone former king, later prime minister Norodom Sihanouk and was adopted in English. The official name of the Khmer Rouge was the Communist Party of Cambodia, later the Party of Democratic Kampuchea. It was also known as the Communist Party of Kampuchea, the Khmer Communist Party and the National Army of Democratic Kampuchea.

Fall of the Khmer Rouge

In December 1978, after several years of border conflict and a flood of refugees into Vietnam, Vietnamese troops invaded Cambodia, capturing Phnom Penh on January 7, 1979 and deposing the Khmer Rouge regime. Despite Cambodians' traditional fear of Vietnamese domination, the Vietnamese invaders were assisted by widespread defections of Khmer Rouge activists, who formed the core of the post-Khmer Rouge government. The Khmer Rouge retreated to the west and continued to control an area near the Thai border for the next decade, unofficially protected by elements of the Thai Army and funded by smuggled diamonds and timber.

Related Topics:
1978 - Phnom Penh - January 7 - 1979 - Thai

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The U.S. and other Western governments, along with China, voted in the UN to continue to recognize "Democratic Kampuchea" as the legitimate government of Cambodia, in order to signal their disapproval of the Vietnamese occupation and installation of the People's Republic of Kampuchea, which was also backed by the Soviet Union. China launched a punitive invasion of northern Vietnam. During the '80s, the U.S. gave military and humanitarian support to the republican KPNLF and royalist ANS insurgent groups. The Khmer Rouge, still led by Pol Pot and the most militarily capable of the three rebel groups, received extensive military aid from China and intelligence from the Thai military. While eastern and central Cambodia were firmly under the control of Vietnam and its Cambodian allies by 1980, the western part of the country continued to be a battlefield through the 1980s, with millions of landmines sown across the countryside.

Related Topics:
People's Republic of Kampuchea - Soviet Union - KPNLF - ANS - 1980 - Landmines

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Pol Pot relinquished his Khmer Rouge leadership post to Khieu Samphan in 1985, but he continued to be the driving force behind the Khmer Rouge insurgency, giving speeches to his followers. Some journalists http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/asia/june97/cambodia_6-18.html commented that despite the international community's near-universal condemnation of the Khmer Rouge's brutal rule, a sizable amount of Cambodians in KR-controlled areas seemed to genuinely support Pol Pot, perhaps owing to his nationalism and vision of a "pure" Khmer society.

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After a decade of inconclusive conflict, all Cambodian political factions signed a treaty in 1991 calling for elections and disarmament. But in 1992 the Khmer Rouge resumed fighting and the following year they rejected the results of the elections. There was a mass defection in 1996 when around half the remaining soldiers (about 4,000) left. Factional fighting in 1997 led to Pol Pot's trial and imprisonment by the Khmer Rouge itself. Pol Pot died in April 1998, and Khieu Samphan surrendered in December. On December 29, 1998 the remaining leaders of the Khmer Rouge apologised for the deaths in the 1970s. By 1999 most members had surrendered, or been captured. In December 1999 Ta Mok and the remaining leaders surrendered and the Khmer Rouge effectively ceased to exist.

Related Topics:
1991 - 1992 - 1996 - 1997 - 1998 - December 29 - 1999 - Ta Mok

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Before the Khmer Rouge came to power some Cambodians had already fled to refugee camps. But those who were not able to flee had to work in rural farms until the Vietnamese had liberated them and later escaped to the camps. Many Cambodians had crossed the border into Thailand to seek asylum. From there they were transported to refugee camps such as Khao-I-Dang, the only camp allowing resettlement in countries such as the United States, France, Canada, and Australia.

Related Topics:
Thailand - Khao-I-Dang - United States - France - Canada - Australia

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