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Pol Pot

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Pol Pot (1925-1998) was born in 1925 in Cambodia, then a part of French Indochina. His real name was Saloth Sar. In 1949, he got a scholarship to study radio engineering in Paris. During his study, he became a communist, and joined an emergent Khmer communist group. In 1953, he returned to Cambodia.

At that time, a communist-led revolt was taking place in French Indochina. The centre of this uprising was in Vietnam, but it also took place in Cambodia and Laos. Saloth Sar joined the Viet Minh, but found that they regarded only Vietnam of importance, not Laos and Cambodia. In 1954, the French left Indochina, but the Viet Minh also withdrew to North Vietnam, and King Norodom Sihanouk called elections. Sihanouk abdicated, and formed a political party. Using his popularity and some intimidation, he swept away the communist opposition and gained all of the government seats.

Pol Pot was forced to flee Sihanouk's secret police and spent twelve years in hiding, training recruits. In the late 1960s, Sihanouk's head of internal security, Lon Nol took brutal action against the revolutionaries, known as Khmer Rouge. Pol Pot started an armed uprising against the government, supported by China.

Prior to 1970, the Khmer Rouge was an insignificant factor in Cambodian politics. However, in 1970 Lon Nol deposed Sihanouk, because the latter was seen as supporting the Viet Cong. In protest, Sihanouk threw his support to Pol Pot's side. Sihanouk's popularity, along with the United States invasion of Cambodia shortly after the coup, and subsequent bombings by the US (which continued illegally even after Congress voted to suspend them) drove many to Pol Pot's side and soon Lon Nol's government controlled only the cities. Sihanouk was soon side-lined by his more radical colleagues.

When the United States left Vietnam in 1973 the Viet Cong left Cambodia, but the Khmer Rouge continued to fight. In early 1975, the Khmer Rouge unleashed a massive offensive that resulted in Lon Nol's forces being driven back to the suburbs of Phnom Penh. On April 17, the Khmer Rouge took the city and Lon Nol fled to the United States of America.

Following the fall of Phnom Penh, politicians and bureaucrats were killed, all other inhabitants were driven out of the city into the countryside, where they were forced to do physical labour. Phnom Penh was turned into a ghost city, and many died of starvation, illnesses or execution. Education, religion, private possessions and families were abolished. Pol Pot became paranoid, and saw internal and external (Vietnamese) plots everywhere. Enormous numbers of suspects were tortured and killed.

In late 1978, the Vietnamese invaded Cambodia. The Cambodian army was easily defeated, and Pol Pot fled to the Thai border. In January 1979, the Vietnamese installed a puppet government under Heng Samrin, composed of Khmer Rouge who had fled to Vietnam to avoid the purges. Pol Pot retained a sufficient following to keep fighting in a small area in the west of the country. At this point China, which had earlier supported Pol Pot, attacked creating a brief Sino-Vietnam War.

Pol Pot, an enemy of the Soviet Union, also gained support from Thailand and the US. In particular, the US and China vetoed the allocation of Cambodia's United Nations General Assembly seat to a representative of Heng Samrin's government. The US attempted to foster an anti-Vietnamese alliance between Pol Pot, Sihanouk and the nationalist, Son San. In pursuit of this end, Pol Pot officially resigned in 1985, but continued as de facto Khmer Rouge leader and dominant force within the alliance. There were continued reports of Khmer Rouge atrocities from areas controlled by the alliance.

In 1989, the Vietnamese withdrew from Cambodia. Pol Pot refused to cooperate with the peace process, and kept fighting the new coalition government. The Khmer Rouge kept the government forces at bay until 1996, when the demoralised troops started deserting. Several important Khmer Rouge leaders also defected.

In 1997, Pol Pot executed his life-long right hand Son Sen for wanting to make a settlement with the government, but then he himself was arrested by Khmer Rouge military chief Ta Mok, and was sentenced to lifelong house arrest. In April 1998, Ta Mok fled into the forest following a new government attack, and took Pol Pot with him. A few days later Pol Pot died, reportedly of a heart attack.

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