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Pol Pot Pol Pot (1925?-1998), a Cambodian Communist and leaderof the Khmer Rouge movement, was prime minister of Cambodia from 1976 to 1979. Under the rule of Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge, at least 1 million Cambodians died as a result of execution, disease, starvation, or hard labor. Pol Pot, whose real name was Saloth Sar, was born in Kompong Thom Province. From 1949 to 1953, he lived in Paris, where he studied radio technology and took part in Communist activities. In 1953, he joined the Indochina Communist Party, and in 1960, he led the reorganization of Cambodia's Communist Party. In 1975, Pol Pot's Communist guerrilla forces, the Khmer Rouge, overthrew the Cambodian government. The following year, Pol Pot became prime minister. Under Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge, the government took over all businesses and farms, outlawed religion, closed schools, and enlisted children in the military. It forced most urban Cambodians to move to the countryside and work on farms. Many people died of disease, starvation, and overwork. The Khmer Rouge executed many Cambodians, including former government officials, educated people, and religious leaders. In 1979, invading Vietnamese troops and Cambodian political groups opposed to the Khmer Rouge overthrew Pol Pot's government. Pol Pot then directed Khmer Rouge guerrilla operations against the new government. In the early 1990's, the Khmer Rouge broke up into a number of factions. Pol Pot died in a jungle hut on April 15, 1998.

Khmer Rouge Khmer Rouge, pronounced kmehr roozh, was a Cambodian Communist movement that controlled the government of Cambodia from April 1975 to January 1979. Communist leader Pol Pot led the group for much of its existence. The Khmer Rouge was one of the most violent and repressive regimes of the 1900's. At least 1 million people were killed or died of mistreatment under the Khmer Rouge, who sought to turn Cambodia into a Communist state based on peasant society. Origins of the Khmer Rouge. Khmer is the name of the people of Cambodia. Rouge is the French word for red. King Norodom Sihanouk, Cambodia's ruler, is said to have coined the name Khmer Rouge to describe Cambodian Communists. The Khmer Rouge began with a group of Cambodian radicals, some of whom adopted Communism during the 1950's while studying in Paris. Pol Pot, whose real name was Saloth Sar, became the best known. Other former Paris students included Khieu Samphan and Ieng Sary. In 1963, Pol Pot began organizing the Khmer Rouge against the Sihanouk government. Khmer Rouge members trained as a rebel guerrilla force in the jungles and mountains of Cambodia. In March 1970, two members of Sihanouk's government-Lieutenant General Lon Nol and Prince Sisowath Sirik Matak-overthrew Sihanouk while he was out of the country. In October 1970, Prime Minister Lon Nol abolished the monarchy and proclaimed Cambodia a republic. Lon Nol dissolved Cambodia's legislature in 1971. The next year, he made himself president and assumed full control of the government. The Khmer Rouge then began a civil war against the Lon Nol government. On April 17, 1975, following a bloody siege that had lasted more than three months, Khmer Rouge troops captured Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia. The Khmer Rouge renamed Cambodia the Democratic Republic of Kampuchea.The Khmer Rouge regime. Pol Pot was the secretary-general of Angkar, the secretive ruling council of the Khmer Rouge. In 1976, he became prime minister of Kampuchea. His regime received support from North Korea and the People's Republic of China. Ieng Sary and Khieu Samphan held top positions in the regime. The Khmer Rouge sought to rid Kampuchea of what it considered a corrupt society and to create a classless state. It abolished banks, currency, external trade, and private property. It outlawed all religions. The Khmer Rouge drove about 3 million people from Kampuchea's cities to do forced labor in the countryside, working in the rice fields or building canals and dams. The Khmer Rouge enforced their rule by means of torture and other forms of terror.The fall of the Khmer Rouge. In January 1979, Vietnamese troops and Cambodian political groups opposed to the Khmer Rouge regime invaded Kampuchea and captured Phnom Penh. Pol Pot and Khmer Rouge troops fled into the wilderness. The Vietnamese installed a new government for the country, which they renamed the People's Republic of Kampuchea. Throughout the 1980's, the Khmer Rouge carried on guerrilla warfare against the new administration from its bases in Thailand. In 1985, Pol Pot retired as leader of the Khmer Rouge, but he remained its strongest personality. In 1989, Vietnam completed the withdrawal of its military forces from Kampuchea, which then resumed the name of Cambodia. In 1990, the Khmer Rouge took part in peace negotiations with the Vietnamese-backed government and two non-Communist groups. In 1991, the Khmer Rouge signed a cease-fire agreement brokered by the United Nations. A general election in 1993 brought Sihanouk back to power and restored the monarchy. Cambodia declared the Khmer Rouge illegal in 1994, after it refused to give up its weapons. It continued fighting government forces in the western part of the country. The Khmer Rouge gradually weakened as opposing factions split from it and its members defected to the government. In 1996, Ieng Sary received amnesty for his war crimes after he and many followers defected. In 1997, a faction opposed to Pol Pot captured the former leader. In April 1998, Pol Pot died in custody in the northern jungles of Cambodia. Khieu Samphan surrendered to government forces in December. By early 1999, the Khmer Rouge movement came to an end.

NORODOM SIHANOUK
Old King

Pronounced NAWR uh dum SEE uh nuk (1922-...), is the king of Cambodia. He has been an important figure in Cambodian politics since 1941. Sihanouk was born in Phnom Penh. He became king in 1941. At that time, Cambodia was part of French Indochina. Sihanouk became a supporter of Cambodian independence. Cambodia became independent in 1953. In 1955, Sihanouk gave up the throne and was elected prime minister. He was elected head of state in 1960. In 1970, during the Vietnam War, the prime minister, Lieutenant General Lon Nol, and Prince Sisowath Sirik Matak ousted Sihanouk and forced him into exile. Sihanouk had publicly proclaimed Cambodian neutrality in the war. But he secretly allowed North Vietnamese Communists-the enemies of the United States and South Vietnam-to establish bases in Cambodia. In 1975, a Communist group called the Khmer Rouge gained control of Cambodia and set up a harsh political regime. Sihanouk was allowed to return to Cambodia as head of state, but he had no real political power. In 1978, Vietnamese forces invaded Cambodia, and Sihanouk fled to China. A civil war broke out among the Khmer Rouge, the Vietnamese, and other Communist and non-Communist groups. The opposing groups signed a peace agreement in 1991 and elections were held. In 1993, a new National Assembly made Sihanouk king again.

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