Click on the cartoon to zoom inCartoon by Sacrava (on the web at http://politiktoons.blogspot.com
and also at http://sacrava.blogspot.com)
Showing posts with label 10-year anniversary of Pol Pot's death. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 10-year anniversary of Pol Pot's death. Show all posts
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
Politiktoons No. 69: When the war was over...
Click on the cartoon to zoom inCartoon by Sacrava (on the web at http://politiktoons.blogspot.com
and also at http://sacrava.blogspot.com)
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
UN chief calls for speedy Cambodia justice
UN Chief Ban Ki-moon
New York (dpa) - UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon Tuesday called for Cambodia's courts to deliver a verdict on the mass killings in the 1970s by the country's Khmer Rouge government, whose leader Pol Pot died 10 years ago.
Pol Pot led communist troops to topple the US-backed government in Phnom Penh in April, 1975, and launched a country-wide sweep to wipe pout the middle class and intellectuals, resulting in more than 2 million deaths from forced labour and extermination.
He died 10 years ago this week. But Cambodia's efforts to bring the handful of Khmer Rouge survivors to justice have dragged on despite international assistance to establish a tribunal to prosecute those responsible for the genocide.
Ban called for closure on the Khmer Rouge cases, which he called "one of history's darkest chapters."
"The UN and the Royal government of Cambodia remain actively engaged in efforts to hold the Khmer Rouge senior leaders and those most responsible accountable for their horrible crimes," Ban said in a statement.
"With the support of the international community, it is my hope that the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia will soon deliver long-overdue justice for the people of Cambodia," he said.
Pol Pot led communist troops to topple the US-backed government in Phnom Penh in April, 1975, and launched a country-wide sweep to wipe pout the middle class and intellectuals, resulting in more than 2 million deaths from forced labour and extermination.
He died 10 years ago this week. But Cambodia's efforts to bring the handful of Khmer Rouge survivors to justice have dragged on despite international assistance to establish a tribunal to prosecute those responsible for the genocide.
Ban called for closure on the Khmer Rouge cases, which he called "one of history's darkest chapters."
"The UN and the Royal government of Cambodia remain actively engaged in efforts to hold the Khmer Rouge senior leaders and those most responsible accountable for their horrible crimes," Ban said in a statement.
"With the support of the international community, it is my hope that the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia will soon deliver long-overdue justice for the people of Cambodia," he said.
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
Cambodia quietly marks Pol Pot's death ... Amid Fears For Khmer Rouge Trial
Pol Pot on his deathbed04/15/2008
Agence France-Presse
PHNOM PENH -- Cambodia on Tuesday quietly marked the 10-year anniversary of Khmer Rouge leader Pol Pot's death, amid fears that time is running out to try his aging surviving cadre before a genocide tribunal.
Pol Pot, the tyrant who turned Cambodia into the killing fields in the late 1970s, died on April 15, 1998, reportedly from heart attack, in the remote northern Cambodian outpost of Anlong Veng, the Khmer Rouge's final stronghold.
He was unceremoniously cremated under a pile of rubbish and tires.
"Pol Pot died a criminal, responsible for millions of lives," said Youk Chhang, director of the Documentation Center of Cambodia, which collects evidence of Khmer Rouge atrocities. "He is not the kind of person Cambodian people should commemorate."
Nhem En, deputy governor of Anlong Veng and a former Khmer Rouge member, told AFP by telephone: "It is the 10-year anniversary of Pol Pot's death, but there is no commemoration for his soul."
Up to two million people died of overwork and starvation or were executed under the 1975-79 rule of the Khmer Rouge, which abolished religion, property rights, currency and schools.
Millions more were driven from the cities onto vast collective farms as Pol Pot's ultra-Maoist regime sought to create an agrarian utopia.
"Pol Pot is a person the world hates," said Nhem En, a former photographer at the Khmer Rouge's notorious Tuol Sleng torture center in Phnom Penh.
A joint Cambodia-UN tribunal convened in 2006 after nearly a decade of haggling has experienced delays and a funding crisis, raising concerns that the defendants could die before standing trial for their alleged role in one of the 20th century's worst atrocities.
As tribunal officials try to pull together the additional $114 million needed to finish the process, many of the five defendants detained by the court complain of weakening health.
One of them, 82-year-old Ieng Sary, has been repeatedly hospitalized.
"If one of them dies (without standing trial), it is a failure for the court and is not acceptable," said Youk Chhang. "The justice that we wanted from Pol Pot died along with him."
Public trials of the regime's five top leaders are expected to begin later this year.
Originally budgeted at $56.3 million over three years, the tribunal has raised its cost estimates to $170 million, which would allow the court to continue operating until 2011.
Court officials travelled to the United Nations in New York in March to seek $114 million, but so far only Australia has come through, promising $450,000 more for the cash-strapped court.
International backers appear hesitant to pledge more money to the process amid allegations of mismanagement and political interference.
Pol Pot, the tyrant who turned Cambodia into the killing fields in the late 1970s, died on April 15, 1998, reportedly from heart attack, in the remote northern Cambodian outpost of Anlong Veng, the Khmer Rouge's final stronghold.
He was unceremoniously cremated under a pile of rubbish and tires.
"Pol Pot died a criminal, responsible for millions of lives," said Youk Chhang, director of the Documentation Center of Cambodia, which collects evidence of Khmer Rouge atrocities. "He is not the kind of person Cambodian people should commemorate."
Nhem En, deputy governor of Anlong Veng and a former Khmer Rouge member, told AFP by telephone: "It is the 10-year anniversary of Pol Pot's death, but there is no commemoration for his soul."
Up to two million people died of overwork and starvation or were executed under the 1975-79 rule of the Khmer Rouge, which abolished religion, property rights, currency and schools.
Millions more were driven from the cities onto vast collective farms as Pol Pot's ultra-Maoist regime sought to create an agrarian utopia.
"Pol Pot is a person the world hates," said Nhem En, a former photographer at the Khmer Rouge's notorious Tuol Sleng torture center in Phnom Penh.
A joint Cambodia-UN tribunal convened in 2006 after nearly a decade of haggling has experienced delays and a funding crisis, raising concerns that the defendants could die before standing trial for their alleged role in one of the 20th century's worst atrocities.
As tribunal officials try to pull together the additional $114 million needed to finish the process, many of the five defendants detained by the court complain of weakening health.
One of them, 82-year-old Ieng Sary, has been repeatedly hospitalized.
"If one of them dies (without standing trial), it is a failure for the court and is not acceptable," said Youk Chhang. "The justice that we wanted from Pol Pot died along with him."
Public trials of the regime's five top leaders are expected to begin later this year.
Originally budgeted at $56.3 million over three years, the tribunal has raised its cost estimates to $170 million, which would allow the court to continue operating until 2011.
Court officials travelled to the United Nations in New York in March to seek $114 million, but so far only Australia has come through, promising $450,000 more for the cash-strapped court.
International backers appear hesitant to pledge more money to the process amid allegations of mismanagement and political interference.
Monday, April 14, 2008
A decade after Pol Pot's death, some Cambodians ask the spirit of once feared despot for luck
Khmer Rouge soldiers preparing Pol Pot's coffin for cremation
Pol Pot's coffin being burnt down
Shrine at Pol Pot cremation site is now promoted as a tourist attraction by Cambodia's Ministry of TourismANLONG VENG, Cambodia (AP) - Ten years after the death of brutal Khmer Rouge leader Pol Pot, his grave has become a symbol of spiritual comfort to some in the village where he died.
Villagers pray at the site, asking for blessings of luck, happiness and even protection from malaria - despite the mayhem he wrought upon their country. He died on April 15, 1998, apparently of heart failure.
«I know it is odd, but I just do as many people here do, asking for happiness from his spirit,» said Orn Pheap, a 37-year-old woman who lost a grandfather and two uncles during the Khmer Rouge's reign of terror from 1975 to 1979.
«I don't know how long I can stay angry with him, since he is already dead,» she said. Her house sits 100 meters (yards) from the grave.
Officials in Anlong Veng, 305 kilometers (190 miles) north of the capital, Phnom Penh, say only a small minority of the area's 35,000 residents pray at Pol Pot's grave.
For most, Pol Pot is remembered as a murderous tyrant with fanatical communist beliefs. Under his leadership, the Khmer Rouge turned the country into a vast slave labor camp, causing the deaths of some 1.7 million people from starvation, forced labor and execution.
Last week, the grave - a pile of dirt covered by a knee-high corrugated zinc roof - was cluttered with clay jars filled with half-burned incense sticks, a sign of prayer and worship.
Cambodians believe in the influence of spirits and superstitious forces on their daily lives and fortunes, which may be why some worship at the grave.
Many may still view their former tormentor as a powerful figure, said Philip Short, author of «Pol Pot: The History of a Nightmare,» a biography of the former despot.
«Evil or good is not the issue,» Short said in an e-mail interview. «He has imposed himself on Cambodians' imaginations, and in that sense he lives on» in the world of spirits.
Once a jungle war zone, Anlong Veng is now a sprawling border market town bustling with the kind of capitalist activities Pol Pot and his comrades sought to stamp out. Ramshackle shops are filled with clothing, house wares, pirated DVDs and other goods from nearby Thailand.
Cambodian pop songs blare from a coffee shop near Pol Pot's grave, which has been designated a tourist attraction. It is among the few remnants of Khmer Rouge history, which the government is trying to preserve.
Some Cambodians have traveled to Anlong Veng to spit on Pol Pot's grave and curse him in anger, said 37-year-old Sat Narin, who owns a nearby clothing shop.
«Given his bad reputation, he should not be venerated,» he said. «But somehow he is popular with some people.
Among the worshippers who seek blessings from Pol Pot's ghost are ethnic Vietnamese who live in the community _ a sharp irony given Pol Pot's massacres of ethnic Vietnamese during his rule.
A 33-year-old Vietnamese resident, who goes by her adopted Cambodian name of Van Sothy, recalled a nightmare in which she saw a black-clad man sitting on a tree near her hut.
When she described the vision to her Cambodian neighbors, they advised her to bring offerings of fruit and boiled chicken to Pol Pot's grave to ask his spirit for protection.
«I have prayed at his grave ever since. I just want to show some respect to the spiritual master of the land,» she said.
If Pol Pot were alive, he would likely be facing war crimes charges along with five of his former comrades currently detained by Cambodia's U.N.-backed genocide tribunal. The long-delayed trials are expected to start later this year.
Nhem En, who was forced to work as the photographer at the Khmer Rouge's Tuol Sleng torture center in Phnom Penh, says he is setting up his own museum in Anlong Veng about the communist group _ not to glorify them but for educational purposes.
He too used to light incense and pray at Pol Pot's grave, he said, but «only for him not to butcher people again in his next life.
Villagers pray at the site, asking for blessings of luck, happiness and even protection from malaria - despite the mayhem he wrought upon their country. He died on April 15, 1998, apparently of heart failure.
«I know it is odd, but I just do as many people here do, asking for happiness from his spirit,» said Orn Pheap, a 37-year-old woman who lost a grandfather and two uncles during the Khmer Rouge's reign of terror from 1975 to 1979.
«I don't know how long I can stay angry with him, since he is already dead,» she said. Her house sits 100 meters (yards) from the grave.
Officials in Anlong Veng, 305 kilometers (190 miles) north of the capital, Phnom Penh, say only a small minority of the area's 35,000 residents pray at Pol Pot's grave.
For most, Pol Pot is remembered as a murderous tyrant with fanatical communist beliefs. Under his leadership, the Khmer Rouge turned the country into a vast slave labor camp, causing the deaths of some 1.7 million people from starvation, forced labor and execution.
Last week, the grave - a pile of dirt covered by a knee-high corrugated zinc roof - was cluttered with clay jars filled with half-burned incense sticks, a sign of prayer and worship.
Cambodians believe in the influence of spirits and superstitious forces on their daily lives and fortunes, which may be why some worship at the grave.
Many may still view their former tormentor as a powerful figure, said Philip Short, author of «Pol Pot: The History of a Nightmare,» a biography of the former despot.
«Evil or good is not the issue,» Short said in an e-mail interview. «He has imposed himself on Cambodians' imaginations, and in that sense he lives on» in the world of spirits.
Once a jungle war zone, Anlong Veng is now a sprawling border market town bustling with the kind of capitalist activities Pol Pot and his comrades sought to stamp out. Ramshackle shops are filled with clothing, house wares, pirated DVDs and other goods from nearby Thailand.
Cambodian pop songs blare from a coffee shop near Pol Pot's grave, which has been designated a tourist attraction. It is among the few remnants of Khmer Rouge history, which the government is trying to preserve.
Some Cambodians have traveled to Anlong Veng to spit on Pol Pot's grave and curse him in anger, said 37-year-old Sat Narin, who owns a nearby clothing shop.
«Given his bad reputation, he should not be venerated,» he said. «But somehow he is popular with some people.
Among the worshippers who seek blessings from Pol Pot's ghost are ethnic Vietnamese who live in the community _ a sharp irony given Pol Pot's massacres of ethnic Vietnamese during his rule.
A 33-year-old Vietnamese resident, who goes by her adopted Cambodian name of Van Sothy, recalled a nightmare in which she saw a black-clad man sitting on a tree near her hut.
When she described the vision to her Cambodian neighbors, they advised her to bring offerings of fruit and boiled chicken to Pol Pot's grave to ask his spirit for protection.
«I have prayed at his grave ever since. I just want to show some respect to the spiritual master of the land,» she said.
If Pol Pot were alive, he would likely be facing war crimes charges along with five of his former comrades currently detained by Cambodia's U.N.-backed genocide tribunal. The long-delayed trials are expected to start later this year.
Nhem En, who was forced to work as the photographer at the Khmer Rouge's Tuol Sleng torture center in Phnom Penh, says he is setting up his own museum in Anlong Veng about the communist group _ not to glorify them but for educational purposes.
He too used to light incense and pray at Pol Pot's grave, he said, but «only for him not to butcher people again in his next life.
10-year anniversary of Pol Pot's death
A Khmer Rouge soldier stands near the body of leader Pol Pot in a small hut near the Thai-Cambodia border about a mile from Chong Sangam Pass, Thailand, Thursday, April 16, 1998, in this file photo. Pol Pot died on April 15, 1998, and this marks the ten-year anniversary of the death of Pol Pot, who as the leader of the Khmer Rouge was responsible for the deaths of about 1.7 million of his countrymen. (AP Photo/David Longstreath, FILE)
The body of Khmer Rouge leader Pol Pot lies on a mattress in a small hut near the Thai-Cambodia border about a mile from Chong Sangam Pass, Thailand, Thursday, April 16, 1998, in this file photo. Pol Pot died on April 15, 1998, and this marks the ten-year anniversary of the death of Pol Pot, who as the leader of the Khmer Rouge was responsible for the deaths of about 1.7 million of his countrymen. (AP Photo/David Longstreath, FILE)
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