January 7, 1979: Liberation, Invasion, or Turning Point in Cambodia’s Modern History?

Today marks January 7, a commemorative date marking the end of the totalitarian Khmer Rouge regime following the victory of Vietnamese troops allied with dissidents of Pol Pot’s regime.

Divergences

This historic event is often criticized by opponents and critics of the current government, who speak more of an invasion than a liberation. Logically so… January 7, 1979, is nevertheless a date widely highlighted by today’s leaders.

Former Prime Minister Hun Sen often recalled that, regardless of the criticism surrounding the Vietnamese intervention, it enabled the Cambodian people to be freed from a bloodthirsty regime that had also brought the country to its knees, starving and decimating a large part of the population. “January 7 is always very important for us. It is the second birthday of the Cambodian people, and this date will be revered forever,” regularly declared the current President of the National Assembly, Heng Samrin, during the many commemorations. The events that followed that fateful January 7, 1979, would unfortunately show that the country was not yet entirely out of danger.

Reminder: Internal purges

From 1978 onward, the Khmer Rouge punctuated their dictatorial rule with regular internal purges. The Eastern Zone of Democratic Kampuchea, where the Khmer Rouge were said to be more moderate, was attacked by the troops of Ke Pauk and Son Sen starting in April 1978. Many of Pol Pot’s cadres from this region owed their survival only to fleeing to the neighboring country.

The dissidence of part of the Khmer Rouge leadership, including the current prime minister, would provide support for the Vietnamese intervention

At the same time, relations with Vietnam deteriorated, shifting from political rupture to open hostility, with military incursions into Vietnamese territory.

In 1978, Vietnam ultimately decided to put an end to the Khmer Rouge. Vietnamese troops prepared to engage in combat and to establish a political alternative for Cambodia.

The Vietnamese already had Khmer allies among former Khmer Issarak cadres, many of whom lived in Vietnam. The dissidence of part of the Khmer Rouge leadership, including the former prime minister, also provided them with a pool of allies. On December 2, 1978, 70 dissident Khmer Rouge cadres and officers proclaimed the creation of the United Front for the National Salvation of Kampuchea, which Heng Samrin would lead.

Victory

On December 25, 1978, 100,000 Vietnamese soldiers, assisted by 20,000 Cambodians, invaded Cambodian territory. The Khmer Rouge army, less well equipped and weakened by massive desertions, was defeated within two weeks. Pol Pot, Ta Mok, Nuon Chea, and the rest of the Democratic Kampuchea government fled to the mountains.

Prince Norodom Sihanouk emerged from house arrest to be evacuated to China.

January 7, 1979

On January 7, 1979, Vietnamese forces entered Phnom Penh. They found a nearly empty city, abandoned by its defenders. Units of Vietnamese and Cambodian troops wandered through the deserted streets of the capital, discovering only 70 surviving inhabitants and the still-fresh corpses of the latest victims of the Tuol Sleng torture center.

On January 11, the People’s Republic of Kampuchea was proclaimed. A provisional government was formed in the shape of the People’s Revolutionary Council, with Heng Samrin as president. Hun Sen, then 26 years old, was appointed minister of foreign affairs. As early as February 18, a treaty of friendship was signed with Vietnam, placing the new Cambodian government under its protection.

Phnom Penh closed

Access to Phnom Penh remained prohibited for more than six months to former inhabitants who were still alive, forcing them to camp on the outskirts. Vietnamese authorities attempted to restore a minimum level of infrastructure in the city. The new authorities actively sought, among the survivors, civil servants and skilled workers to restart production and establish a minimal administration. In 1980, access to the capital became more or less free again.

Phnom Penh closed

Chaos

With the fall of Democratic Kampuchea, chaos did not come to an end in Cambodia. The country was crisscrossed by thousands of Cambodians—former deportees—searching for shelter or for their missing relatives. Now free to move about, displaced villagers were allowed to return to their native villages. These population movements, combined with the lack of seeds, prevented the resumption of rice cultivation.

Attempt at collectivization

Humanitarian aid was severely hampered by the lack of international recognition of the new regime. Moreover, the Cambodian government was reluctant to open its borders. In order to finance part of the reconstruction, an attempt was made to collectivize the economy, but it quickly ran up against the population’s resistance. Farmers had little difficulty circumventing the new measures, preferring to keep their harvests or sell them to merchants who were resettling, rather than to state-run shops.

Democratic Kampuchea

Pol Pot and Ieng Sary were sentenced to death in absentia a few months later. The new regime built the core of its propaganda on denouncing the crimes committed under Democratic Kampuchea.

The Khmer Rouge continued to wage guerrilla actions in the years that followed. In 1982, at the initiative of Norodom Sihanouk, the Coalition Government of Democratic Kampuchea was created to position itself as a rival to the Vietnam-allied regime. Democratic Kampuchea (the Khmer Rouge) continued to hold Cambodia’s seat at the United Nations, as the only government internationally recognized for the country.

It was not until 1991 that the Paris Peace Agreements “resolved,” at the international level, the question of Cambodia’s status.

Read also the column by Jean Kroussar.