Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
one million. Yale University researchers undertaking ongoing investigations estimated
that the figure was close to two million.
Western powers, including the USA and UK, ensured the Khmer Rouge retained its seat at the
UN General Assembly in New York until 1991, a scenario that saw those responsible for the
genocide representing their victims on the international stage.
Hundreds of thousands of people were executed by the Khmer Rouge leadership, while
hundreds of thousands more died of famine and disease. Meals consisted of little more
than watery rice porridge twice a day, but were meant to sustain men, women and children
through a back-breaking day in the fields. Disease stalked the work camps, malaria and
dysentery striking down whole families; death was a relief for many from the horrors of
life. Some zones were better than others, some leaders fairer than others, but life for the
majority was one of unending misery and suffering in this 'prison without walls'.
As the centre eliminated more and more moderates, Angkar (the organisation) became
the only family people needed and those who did not agree were sought out and crushed.
The Khmer Rouge detached the Cambodian people from all they held dear: their families,
their food, their fields and their faith. Even the peasants who had supported the revolution
could no longer blindly follow such insanity. Nobody cared for the Khmer Rouge by
1978, but nobody had an ounce of strength to do anything about it…except the Viet-
namese.
