Tuesday, May 26, 2009
AFP
Phnom Penh— Cambodia’s UN-backed war crimes court Monday heard from a former journalist about how Southeast Asia’s communist revolution descended into a bloody territorial conflict with Vietnam. Nayan Chanda, a former editor of the Hong Kong-based Far Eastern Economic Review, said a border dispute with Vietnam was “the biggest concern” for Khmer Rouge leaders after they took power in 1975.
Current Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen, who was a Khmer Rouge soldier at the time, was ordered to lead troops in an attack on Vietnam, said Chanda, the author of “Brother Enemy: The War After the War.”
“In May 1977, the (Khmer Rouge) eastern zone planned to attack Vietnam and Mr Hun Sen who was then a member of the Khmer Rouge was put in charge of the plan, but he told (a historian) that he would not do it and he took refuge in the jungle,” Chanda said. Hun Sen eventually returned to Cambodia as part of the Vietnam-backed invasion force that toppled the Khmer Rouge from power in 1979, and became premier in 1985.
Chanda told the court that Vietnam began major attacks on Cambodia in 1977 after the Khmer Rouge severed diplomatic relations.
“They wanted to give the message to the Khmer Rouge that there is a price to pay if they continue to carry out attacks on Vietnamese border,” Chanda said.
Chanda was testifying at the trial of former Khmer Rouge prison chief Duch, who is accused of overseeing the torture and extermination of some 15,000 people who passed through the notorious Tuol Sleng prison in the late 1970s.
Current Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen, who was a Khmer Rouge soldier at the time, was ordered to lead troops in an attack on Vietnam, said Chanda, the author of “Brother Enemy: The War After the War.”
“In May 1977, the (Khmer Rouge) eastern zone planned to attack Vietnam and Mr Hun Sen who was then a member of the Khmer Rouge was put in charge of the plan, but he told (a historian) that he would not do it and he took refuge in the jungle,” Chanda said. Hun Sen eventually returned to Cambodia as part of the Vietnam-backed invasion force that toppled the Khmer Rouge from power in 1979, and became premier in 1985.
Chanda told the court that Vietnam began major attacks on Cambodia in 1977 after the Khmer Rouge severed diplomatic relations.
“They wanted to give the message to the Khmer Rouge that there is a price to pay if they continue to carry out attacks on Vietnamese border,” Chanda said.
Chanda was testifying at the trial of former Khmer Rouge prison chief Duch, who is accused of overseeing the torture and extermination of some 15,000 people who passed through the notorious Tuol Sleng prison in the late 1970s.
