Nov
12
Depiction Of The Khmer Rouge
November 12, 2009 | Leave a Comment
The Khmer Rouge is the communist party of Cambodia, ruled by Pol Pot from’75 to’79. It is the worst nightmare that the world has ever seen.
The Khmer Rouge started going against the Cambodian government in’70, and since they needed more power, they took the help of the North Vietnam and Viet Cong troops. This power led them to gaining control over a majority of Cambodia, increasing their strength from a meager 3,000 to 30,000 within a three-year period. After this has been achieved, the external troops from North Vietnam and the Viet Cong troops could withdraw as the Khmer Rouge was now powerful.
Under the leadership of Pol Pot, in’75, “Democratic Kampuchea” came into existence after the government was brought down. Everything changed for the Cambodian people and all the peace and quiet vanished overnight, and the monstrous rule of the Khmer Rouge took over. They started demolishing everything that was held dear by the people of Cambodia. They evacuated full cities, destroyed property, closed factories and schools and made thousands of workers turn to farming. The worst part was the assassinations of millions of people. Later it was revealed that the death toll was more than 2 million people.
By the year’79, tensions with Vietnam increased and Vietnamese troops invaded, helping the rival Communists factions in deposing the new Khmer Rouge government. But the Khmer Rouge continued to have a huge army of 30,000 near the Thai border and was also recognized by the United Nations as the official Cambodian government.
After two years, the government formed a coalition with Norodom Sihanouk, the former premier and Son Sann, a non-communist leader. The leader of the Khmer Rouge was no longer Pol Pot but Khieu Samphan. However, it is said that Pol Pot still remained the unofficial leader. UN supervised elections were requested by the different Cambodian factions looking for some sort of a peace and this was fulfilled in’92, with UN taking over the government administration. Around that time, the Khmer Rouge did not acknowledge the results of the elections and withdrew itself from the peace treaty. Finally, it began to fight again.
As is wont to happen, in’97, due to factional fighting within themselves, Pol Pot was oustered and imprisoned by the Khmer Rouge and he died in’98. That was the end of the Khmer Rouge, as most of the members were either captured, had surrendered or defected by’99.
Not many scholars believed the reports of mass killings in Cambodia before’79; however, when the Khmer Rouge was overtaken by the Vietnamese, the extent of the disaster was clear to all.
Khmer Rouge is considered to be the deadliest and most shocking reigns of the modern era. The death toll is not an indication of the brutalities that Cambodians had to suffer in the hands of unscrupulous elements that formed the government. It created such an impact on the world that there never was another revolution that was worse than the one in Cambodia.
Visit KhmerArticles.com for more information about khmer people and the country of Cambodia.
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