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2000 © ExeCambodia Copyright All rights reserved. |
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History and Government |
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CAMBODIA In the southwestern part of the Indochinese Peninsula of Southeast Asia is the country of Cambodia. The names Cambodia and Kampuchea are transliterations of the country's traditional name in the Khmer language, and both have been used for the name of the country. In 1970 the government abolished the colonial name Cambodia but retained the name Kampuchea. Nineteen years later the name Cambodia was readopted. The country is a remnant of the Khmer Empire, which ruled much of Southeast Asia from the 9th to the 15th century. Cambodia was a part of French Indochina from 1887 to 1953, when it gained independence. During the 1970s rival factions engaged in a bloody struggle for control of the country. One faction, supported by China, took over the government in 1975. Another, backed by Vietnam, overthrew the government in 1979 and controlled the country for the next decade. |
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| From the 15th century on the Khmer state lost both people and territory to Thailand on the west, Laos on the north, and Vietnam on the east. The country was almost divided between Thailand and Vietnam in the 19th century before the French made Cambodia a protectorate in 1863. The country formed part of French Indochina from 1887 until it became independent in 1953 under King Norodom Sihanouk. The next year at the Geneva Conference, Sihanouk's government was recognized as the sole legitimate authority in the country. Sihanouk abdicated in favor of his father in 1955, reorganized the government, and was elected chief of state in 1960, after his father died. Cambodia tried to remain politically neutral in the fight for power between Communist and non-Communist nations during the 1960s. By 1965, however, Communist factions were competing in promoting revolution | ||
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Pol
Pot (also
called Tol Saut, or Pol Porth) (born 1928), Cambodian politician In
December 1978 Vietnam invaded Kampuchea. The Vietnamese government said
it wanted to save Kampuchea from further harshness and purges by the
Khmer Rouge; its support went to the Soviet-Vietnamese Communist
faction. By April 1979 the Vietnamese had taken Phnom Penh, installed a
new government under Heng Samrin, and changed the name of the country to
the People's Democratic Republic of Kampuchea. The Vietnamese army
occupied the country and waged anti-Khmer Rouge campaigns in the western
border areas. The
Vietnamese set up a People's Revolutionary Council to govern Kampuchea.
In 1981 a 117-member National Assembly was elected to a five-year term,
and it approved a new constitution. The Assembly that year appointed a
seven-member Council of State and a 16-member Council of Ministers to
replace the Revolutionary Council. In 1989 Vietnam announced that it would withdraw its remaining troops by the end of September. The constitution drawn up that year renamed the country the State of Cambodia. In March 1990, however, Sihanouk claimed that Vietnam continued to control Cambodia after the pullout and that thousands of troops had never left.
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June
3, 1993: Norodom Sihanouk returns to power. The 72-year-old former ruler of Cambodia, Norodom Sihanouk, was installed as head of a coalition government in a country that had been ravaged by war for decades. He was king of Cambodia from 1941 to 1955 and prince from 1960 to 1970, when he was deposed. His selection as head of state did not end Cambodia's problems, however. The rebel Khmer Rouge continued their attacks on the government. Later in the year the National Assembly changed the constitution and restored the monarchy. Sihanouk became king once more, and a new prime minister was appointed. |
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United Nations |
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| The four factions involved in the civil war--the Vietnamese-installed Phnom Penh government, the ousted Khmer Rouge, the anti-Communists, and the nationalists loyal to Sihanouk--agreed in May 1991 to a cease-fire. In an effort to prevent a return to power of the Khmer Rouge, the United States in July scheduled diplomatic talks with the Vietnamese-backed government. During these talks, held in September and overseen by the United Nations (UN), all the warring Cambodian factions agreed to form a 12-member Supreme National Council (SNC) to work toward a peace settlement. Under the terms of the peace plan, the UN would be in charge, running parts of the government and preparing for elections in 1993. Sihanouk was made head of the SNC to lead Cambodia through the transition. Despite efforts by the Khmer Rouge to disrupt the May 1993 ballot, Cambodians came to the polls in large numbers to elect Sihanouk and his Royalist party to lead the new government. Warfare between the Khmer Rouge and government forces continued into the mid-1990s.
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