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| The Horrors Of The Khmer Rouge |
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| Written by Kevin Meas |
| Tuesday, 10 November 2009 09:05 |
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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. The year'75 saw everything changing for the Cambodians. Their government was overthrown by the now extremely powerful Pol Pot with thousands of followers. He created the Democratic Kampuchea in'75. Then he showed his monstrous nature by reaching into each and every Cambodian home and destroying it. Millions of people were assassinated, made homeless, left to starve and turned farmers. They hardly had any time to react as it all happened suddenly. Those who were spared their lives or survived the horrors turned to slaves from self sufficient Cambodians. The country was nothing more than a nation of slaves. Things were not hunky dory with Vietnam too, leading to the invasion of Cambodia by the Vietnamese in'79. This helped bring down the Khmer Rouge; however, its 30,000 strong army continued to flourish on the Thai border, to the extent that the United Nations gave it the recognition of 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. Internal disputes led the Khmer Rouge to disintegrate in'97, leading to the imprisonment of Pol Pot. He died soon after in'98, bringing to a close what was the worst reign of modern times. By'99, all the other members of the Khmer Rouge were defected, captured or surrendered. Initially, reports of the mass murders in Cambodia were not taken seriously by most people, until the Vietnamese overpowered the Khmer Rouge. It was then the horrors of Cambodia came to fore. A chill runs down the spine of every Cambodian when they think back on the Khmer Rouge. It shocked the world with the atrocities that were considered to be the worst ever the world had to face. The wounds of the rule remain raw even today, as they changed the lives of the population of Cambodia, like nothing else has before. Kindly provided by MoneyHunter.org You are welcome to use this article on your own website, if you include the link just before this text. |
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