ប៉ែន សុវណ្ណ : យួន​បង្កើត​​ចលនា​តាំង​​ពី​ជំរំ ០០៧ នៅ​ណងចាន់ ហើយ​គេ​ចាប់​​ប្រជាជន​នៅ​​ទី​ក្រុង​​ភ្នំពេញ - Pen Sovann: The Yuons formed their movement in Camp 007 (Nong Chan) and they arrested people in PPenh

Pen Sovann (Photo: The Phnom Penh Post)

Saturday, February 04, 2012
By Bora Touch

លោក ប៉ែន សុវណ្ណ៖ «ដល់​ពេល​ហ្នឹង​លោក ជា ស៊ីម កាល​នោះ​ក៏​មាន​គំនិត​ប្រឆាំង​យួន​ដែរ។ គាត់​ចង់​កសាង​កម្លាំង​​ប្រដាប់​អាវុធ​របស់​គាត់​ដោយ​ឡែក​នៅ​មុខ​កំពូល ហើយ​ដល់​យួន​ឃើញ​អ៊ីចឹង គេ​បង្កើត​សេរីកា ក្រសួង​ការបរទេស​របស់ ហ៊ុន សែន ក៏​មាន​ដែរ គ្រប់​ក្រសួង​មន្ទីរ​ពួក​សេរីកា​ទាំង​អស់ ហើយ​កាល​ហ្នឹង​ចាប់​ពាយ​តែម្ដង»។

That's revealing. No wonder why Nong Chan and 007 camps were not initially harassed by the Vietnamese army even though the Viet military bases were at a shelling distance away, in case of Nong Chan; and khmer real nationalist leaders, like Van Ren, Kong Saloh etc, were killed and disappeared mysteriously. It was surprising one day in 1980 to see Viet. solders and Nong Chan soldiers were 200 meters apart at Damnak Andong (Andoung rest site, about 10 km from Sorya-Nimmith towns) , but they were not shooting each other.

And soon after it was revealed that Chea Sim was not that pro-Viet, he was removed from being a powerful minister of interior to be the powerless, least security related head of the national assembly. Worse was Pen Sovann's fate for opposing the Viet; he was arrested and shipped to Hanoi. A north Vietnamese insider, colonel Bui Tin, has this to say: "The person primarily responsible for our policy toward Cambodia was Le Duc Tho. He had been assigned by the Politburo to oversee its liberation and the construction of its new Party and state apparatus. Even before our forces reached Phnom Penh, he presided over a meeting held near Snuol in what is known as the Fish Hook area of the border to set up a Cambodian government to replace that headed by Pol Pot. Among those Le Duc Tho chose was Pen Sovann, who became Minister of defence and later emerged as General-Secretary of the Cambodian Communist Party. His appointment came as little surprise to many Cambodians because for several decades he had been a broadcaster with the Voice of Vietnam as head of of its Khmer language service ...

The removal of Pen Sovann came from his positions as Party General Secretary and Minister of Defence in 1981 was also the work of Le Duc Tho acting together with Le Duc Anh. On their recommendation, the Politburo in Hanoi accepted an 'appeal' from several members of the Cambodian Communist Party. The Cambodian people had nothing to do with the rise and fall of Pen Sovann. So what was his mistake? According to a Vietnamese adviser in charge of training Cambodian cadres, Pen Sovann sometimes opposed Vietnam and sometimes his own party. He also expressed dissatisfaction with his lack of power as Party General Secretary and the way his military authority was ignored by General Le Duc Anh. Such attitude was intolerable in the eyes of our leadership, so Pen Sovann was taken back to Vietnam to spend the next ten years under house arrest near Hanoi", Bui Tin, Following Ho Chi Minh. Memoirs of a North Vietnamese Colonel, (1995), pp. 122-123.

Le Duc Anh conveniently forgot that Hanoi also contributed to the formation of the Khmer Rouge movement

Ex-Vietnam leader on Khmer trial: 'Better late than never'

HANOI (AFP) - Former Vietnamese leader Le Duc Anh, who helped organise the 1979 invasion of Cambodia that helped topple the Khmer Rouge, on Wednesday hailed the start of the trial against the regime's chief torturer.

Kaing Guek Eav, alias Duch, went on trial Tuesday in a UN-backed court for crimes against humanity over his brutal rule at Tuol Sleng prison, where he is accused of presiding over the deaths of 15,000 men, women and children.

"Thirty years after the downfall of the Khmer Rouge, I say better late than never," Anh said in an interview with the online daily VietnamNet.

"Not judging them for what they did was almost like condoning the crimes of people who set up a genocidal regime."

Anh, who served as president of communist Vietnam from 1992-97, was one of the key leaders of the anti-American forces in South Vietnam during the war.

In late 1978 and early 1979, he helped organise Vietnam's invasion of neighbouring Cambodia, which led to the regime's fall in January that year.

Anh said Vietnam did not want to go to war with Phnom Penh but saw the invasion as self-defence, as Khmer Rouge leader Pol Pot had repeatedly threatened to seize territory, and the only way to save the Cambodian people.

"Thousands of Vietnamese civilians were killed in border clashes initiated by Pol Pot," Anh said. "At the time, the Khmer Rouge had plans to fight their way to Saigon (now Ho Chi Minh City)."

"Without our support... how would the Cambodian people have risen up to liberate their own country?"

The ultra-communist Khmer Rouge killed about two million people during its four-year reign of terror - nearly a quarter of Cambodia's population at the time.