CAMBODIA

Sophal Ear, UC Berkeley

(This was the draft submitted for to the Editors)

Summary of Developments Since 1997

Three trends in terrorism surfaced in Cambodia since 1997. The single biggest threat, the communist Khmer Rouge, surrendered their last troops in early 1999. With few exceptions, they gained positions of equal rank in the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces (RCAF). Second, continuing alleged government involvement in terrorist attacks against Cambodia’s main political opposition party climaxed on March 30, 1997, when four grenades were thrown at an opposition rally killing at least 19 and injuring 150 people. In the period leading up to Cambodia’s February 2002 commune elections, more than 20 opposition party candidates and activists were killed, fitting a pattern of violence and intimidation by the government. Third, members of a California-based anti-government group known as the Cambodian Freedom Fighters launched an attack on November 24, 2000 against several government installations during which at least four persons were killed and over one dozen were injured.

The Rise and Demise of the Khmer Rouge

Cambodia’s experience with terrorism in the late 1990s continued to be circumscribed by the fight against the notorious Maoist guerrillas known as the Khmer Rouge (KR) or Red Cambodians. The KR took over the country between 1975-1978 and killed 1.7 million people or a quarter of Cambodia’s population. Khmer Rouge leader, Saloth Sar (“Pol Pot”), known among the Khmer Rouge as Brother Number One, died of natural causes in April 1998 following a show trial by his comrades in which they screamed “Crush, crush, crush, Pol Pot and his clique!”. Ousted from power by Vietnam in 1979, the KR continued their insurrection campaign against the Vietnamese-backed government of Phnom Penh for the next two decades. When United Nations-sponsored elections were held in 1993, the Khmer Rouge withdrew from the process claiming that it was biased. A government composed of non-communist resistance, led by the royalist Funcinpec party, and the former communist Cambodian People’s Party (CPP) was formed that year. In the first government (1993-1998), two Prime Ministers, one from Funcinpec, the other from CPP shared power, following a credible threat of violence by the CPP.

On October 8, 1997, the U.S. State Department designated the Khmer Rouge a foreign terrorist organization in accordance with the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act passed by Congress in 1996. In 1999, the KR was dropped from the list because it was no longer a viable terrorist organization and since then has not conducted international terrorism.

Continued defections from the KR to the government and the split of the group into pro- and anti-Pol Pot factions in 1996 greatly reduced their threat throughout the late 1990s. That year, Ieng Sary, former Khmer Rouge Minister of Foreign Affairs, defected to the government and assumed nominal control over Pailin near the Thai border with the government’s blessing. Nevertheless, the hardliners based in the Khmer Rouge stronghold at Anlong Veng (also along the Thai border) regularly launched guerrilla-style attacks on government troops in several provinces for the next two years. Weakened by defections and internal conflict, they surrendered in 1999 following 30 years of civil war and terror.

The KR suffered significant losses in 1998, including the death of leader Pol Pot and the arrest of Nuon Paet, a former KR fugitive suspected of ordering the execution of three European tourists after holding them hostage for two months in 1994. By late December 1998 the last main fighting unit of the KR had surrendered, including two of the group’s top three leaders: Khieu Samphan and Nuon Chea (number two to Pol Pot). The third, Ta Mok, was arrested and has been held without trial since 1999. By then, a new government was elected and Hun Sen became sole Prime Minister. In turn, the latter encouraged the Cambodian people to “dig a hole and bury the past” referring to Khmer Rouge atrocities committed in the 1970s. Hun Sen himself was a low-ranking Khmer Rouge commander until he defected to Vietnam in 1977.

In 1997, KR were also suspected in two deadly attacks against ethnic Vietnamese civilians in Cambodia, but denied playing a role in the disappearance of two Filipino and two Malaysian employees of a logging company in December 1997. In January 1998, KR militants reportedly placed a grenade near the Vietnamese military attache’s office in Phnom Penh. In April 1998, KR forces murdered 12 Vietnamese nationals at a fishing village near the Tonle Sap lake.

Former KR officials Ta Mok and Kiang Kek Iev (“Duch”) accused of mass killings and other crimes, remained in jail. Citing the government’s foot dragging, the United Nations announced in February 2002 that it would pull out of any further discussions over its possible involvement in creating Extraordinary Chambers for the prosecution of Khmer Rouge leaders with judges from Cambodia and the international community, to be held in Phnom Penh.

Terrorism Against Political Opposition

The most significant terrorist incident in Cambodia in 1997 was the grenade attack on an opposition political rally. On Easter Sunday morning, March 30, 1997, four grenades were thrown on a peaceful political demonstration against the politicization of Cambodia’s judiciary that took place across the National Assembly in Phnom Penh. Nineteen people were killed and 150 were injured, including an American, Mr. Ron Abney of the International Republican Institute office in Phnom Penh. As a result, the Federal Bureau of Investigations was involved in investigating the attack.

Among the injured was Sam Rainsy an opposition leader who led the 200 protesters that day. In May 1997, then First Prime Minister, Prince Norodom Ranariddh announced that he would “welcome” support from the Khmer Rouge for his political coalition, leading to an angry reaction from then Second Prime Minister Hun Sen. By July 1997, Hun Sen deposed Ranariddh in a violent coup that was instigated by each side’s courtship of the last remnants of the Khmer Rouge. Several dozen Funcinpec officials and supporters were killed.

In December 1999, Thai opposition leader and former Prime Minister, Chavalit Yongchaiyudh alleged that the Sam Rainsy Party and Osama bin Laden had cooperated in the past, a charge dismissed by diplomats and analysts in Phnom Penh. Part of a preliminary version of the FBI’s report was leaked to the Washington Post three months after the grenade attack. It pinned blame for the blasts on Prime Minister Hun Sen and his bodyguards, a charge denied by the government. Violent attacks against Funcinpec and Sam Rainsy Party candidates and activists in the run-up to the Commune Election held in February 2002 resulted in at least 20 deaths. Likewise during the 1998 election—in which the political atmosphere was further muted by Hun Sen’s coup of July 1997. The pattern of intimidation through killings will likely be repeated in the run-up to the 2003 national election.

Cambodian Freedom Fighters

In 1998, a Long Beach, California-based antigovernment terrorist group, the Cambodian Freedom Fighters (CFF), was formed in the aftermath of Hun Sen’s July 1997 coup. The CFF’s president is Cambodian-American accountant and born-again Christian Mr. Chhun Yasith. The CFF maintains a website at http://www.cffighters.org. In April 1999, five of its members attempted to launch an attack against a fuel depot. Cambodian police foiled the attack in time and arrested the five men. They had in their possession one anti-tank rocket and launcher and three pistols.

At 1:30AM on November 24, 2000, the CFF launched an attack against Cambodian government facilities, including the Council of Ministers and the Ministry of Defense, where they engaged in a fierce gun battle with soldiers. Another band attacked a military barrack 15 km to the west of Phnom Penh. The toll was four deaths and at least one dozen injuries. The U.S. Government released a statement on December 19, 2000 that “deplores and condemns” alleged US national or permanent resident support, encouragement, or participation in violent antigovernment activities in Cambodia, a country with which the United States is at peace.

At least 76 people are now serving long prison terms for alleged involvement with the CFF. In February 2002, a Cambodian court handed down heavy prison sentences to 19 individuals charged with terrorism and/or membership in an illegal armed force. This was the third trial held in connection with the CFF, and observers agreed the evidence was flimsy. Two of the nineteen are naturalized Americans Gilbert Sao and Richard Kim. Sao, a network engineer from California, was given ten years, while Kim, of Oregon, was sentenced to life in prison. The Cambodian judicial system lacks independence and is generally viewed as plagued by politics and corruption.

The government’s continued prosecution of the CFF has been couched under the pretext of fighting terrorism. Prime Minister Hun Sen challenged the United States to do more in February 2001 by saying “We are wondering why the United States is leading the fight to crack down on terrorism, but [is] ignoring our request to arrest [Chhun Yasith].”

Events Since September 11

Immediately following the September 11 attack, Hun Sen announced: “The royal government of Cambodian strongly condemns the terrorists who committed these covert acts.” Cambodia’s response to September 11 has been multifaceted. In the financial realm, the government vowed to track down Al Qaeda and other terrorist organizations-linked funds deposited in Cambodian banks, if any exist. Despite the government’s efforts, weak financial laws and porous borders make Cambodia an easy target for money laundering. Cambodia remains a transit point for both drugs and people, as it is one of the few countries in the world that will issue a visa to anyone on arrival and payment of $20. Admiral Dennis C. Blair, Commander in Chief of the U.S. Pacific Command, said that Cambodia, along with Vietnam, Laos, and Burma, had “offered varying levels of support and cooperation to the global campaign against terrorism” and that the Southeast Asian countries’ “proposed contributions and offers, although perhaps not strategically significant, forecast meaningful regional cooperation on a threat that affects all Asia-Pacific nations.”

References:

News Articles:

Agence France Presse. “Cambodian Police Nab Alleged Petroleum Saboteurs.” April 20, 1999.

Balman, Sid Jr. “U.S. accuses Hun Sen on drugs; terrorism.” United Press International. August 21, 1997.

British Broadcasting Corporation. “UN dismay at Khmer Rouge immunity.” December 29, 1998. http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/asia-pacific/newsid_243000/243634.stm

Deutsche Presse-Agentur. “Heavy Prison Sentences Were Handed Down Thursday by a Cambodian Court to 19.” February 28, 2002.

Deutsche Presse-Agentur. “Cambodian Premier Calls For Global Response to Attack on U.S.” September 12, 2001.

Deutsche Presse-Agentur. “Cambodian Government Vows to Track Down Terrorist Funds.” October 8, 2001.

Deutsche Presse-Agentur. “CCF Rebels Handed Heavy Prison Terms by Cambodian Court.” February 28, 2002.

Deutsche Presse-Agentur. “Alleged Cambodian Terrorists Arrested Trying to Destroy Fuel Depot.” April 20, 1999.

Hajari, Nisid. “End Of The Line: Looking To Rehabilitate Their Image, Cambodia’s Khmer Rouge Put the Dreaded Pol Pot on Trial in the Presence of Two Western Journalists”. Time. Vol. 150 No. 6. August 11, 1997.

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/1997/int/970811/asia.end_of_the_li.html

McPhillips, Jody. “Alleged Leader of Rebel Attack Is Arrested: Hun Sen Puts Up Bounty for Names.” The Cambodia Daily. November 27, 2000

http://www.camnet.com.kh/cambodia.daily/selected_features/cop/alledge_leader.htm

Restall, Hugo. “Examining Asia: Voting and Violence.” Asian Wall Street Journal. February 6, 2002.

Smith, R. Jeffrey. “FBI Points Finger in Cambodian Attack; Leader’s Bodyguards Blamed for Assault that Killed 20, Injured American”. Washington Post. Pg. A20. June 29, 1997.

Non-Governmental Organization Sources:

Human Rights Watch. “Cambodia: Unlawful Arrests and Detention Condemned.” December 6, 2000. http://hrw.org/press/2000/12/cambodia1205.htm

United States Government Sources:

U.S. Department of State. Patterns of Global Terrorism: 1995-2001

http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/dpb/2001/ and so on.

U.S. State Department. Foreign Terrorist Organizations Designations by Secretary of State Madeleine K. Albright. October 8, 1997 & 1999.

http://www.state.gov/www/global/terrorism/fto_1999.html

Blair, Dennis C. Statement Before The House International Relations Committee Subcommittee On East Asia And The Pacific And Subcommittee On Middle East And South Asia On U.S. Pacific Command Posture. February 27, 2002.

http://www.house.gov/international_relations/blai0227.htm

Further Reading:

Mehta, Harish C. and Julie B. Mehta. Hun Sen: Strongman of Cambodia. Singapore: BPR Publishers. 1999.

Chandler, David P. Brother Number One: A Political Biography of Pol Pot. Boulder, CO: Westview Press. 1999.

Websites:

Cambodia Genocide Program. http://www.yale.edu/cgp/

Cambodian Freedom Fighters. http://www.cffighters.org