Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
the Vietnamese-trained Cambodian communists who had been based in Hanoi since the
1954 Geneva Accords returned down the Ho Chi Minh Trail to join their 'allies' in the
Khmer Rouge in 1973. Many were dead by 1975, executed on the orders of the anti-Viet-
namese Pol Pot faction. Likewise, many moderate Sihanouk supporters who had joined
the Khmer Rouge as a show of loyalty to their fallen leader rather than a show of ideology
to the radicals were victims of purges before the regime took power. This set a precedent
for internal purges and mass executions that were to eventually bring the downfall of the
Khmer Rouge.
It didn't take long for the Lon Nol government to become very unpopular as a result of
unprecedented greed and corruption in its ranks. As the USA bankrolled the war, govern-
ment and military personnel found lucrative means to make a fortune, such as inventing
'phantom soldiers' and pocketing their pay, or selling weapons to the enemy. Lon Nol was
widely perceived as an ineffectual leader, obsessed by superstition, fortune tellers and
mystical crusades. This perception increased with his stroke in March 1971 and for the
next four years his grip on reality seemed to weaken as his brother Lon Non's power grew.
Despite massive US military and economic aid, Lon Nol never succeeded in gaining the
initiative against the Khmer Rouge. Large parts of the countryside fell to the rebels and
many provincial capitals were cut off from Phnom Penh. Lon Nol fled the country in early
April 1975, leaving Sirik Matak, who refused evacuation to the end, in charge. 'I cannot
alas leave in such a cowardly fashion… I have committed only one mistake, that of be-
lieving in you, the Americans' were the words Sirik Matak poignantly penned to US am-
bassador John Gunther Dean. On 17 April 1975 - two weeks before the fall of Saigon
(now Ho Chi Minh City) - Phnom Penh surrendered to the Khmer Rouge.
For the full flavour of Cambodian history, from humble beginnings in the prehistoric period
through the glories of Angkor and right up to the present day, grab a copy of
The History of Cam-
bodia
(1994), by David Chandler.
