Editing Cambodian Genocide (section)

==Aftermath [[http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Khmer_Rouge_rule_of_Cambodia&action=edit&section=13 <u>edit</u>]]==
===The Coalition Government of Democratic Kampuchea [[http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Khmer_Rouge_rule_of_Cambodia&action=edit&section=14 <u>edit</u>]]===
The UN General Assembly voted overwhelmingly<sup class="Template-Fact" style="white-space: nowrap;">[''[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed <u>citation needed</u>]'']</sup> for the KR to retain their seat at the UN. The seat was occupied by [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Thiounn_Prasith&action=edit&redlink=1 <u>Thiounn Prasith</u>], an old cadre of Pol Pot and Ieng Sary from their student days in Paris and one of the 21 attendees at the 1960 KPRP Second Congress. The seat was retained under the name 'Democratic Kampuchea' until 1982 and then '[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coalition_Government_of_Democratic_Kampuchea <u>Coalition Government of Democratic Kampuchea</u>]' until 1993.

According to journalist [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_Becker <u>Elizabeth Becker</u>], former U.S. National Security Advisor [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zbigniew_Brzezinski <u>Zbigniew Brzezinski</u>] said that in 1979, "I encouraged the Chinese to support Pol Pot. Pol Pot was an abomination. We could never support him, but China could." Brzezinski has denied this, writing that the Chinese were aiding Pol Pot "without any help or encouragement from the United States."

China, the U.S., and other Western countries opposed an expansion of Vietnamese and Soviet influence in Indochina, and refused to recognize the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cambodia_under_Vietnamese_occupation_(1979-1989) <u>People's Republic of Kampuchea</u>] as the legitimate government of Cambodia, claiming that it was a puppet state propped up by Vietnamese forces. China funneled military aid to the Khmer Rouge, which in the 1980s proved to be the most capable insurgent force, while the U.S. publicly supported a non-Communist alternative to the PRK; in 1985, the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reagan_administration <u>Reagan administration</u>] approved $5 million in aid to the republican [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khmer_People%27s_National_Liberation_Front <u>KPNLF</u>], led by former prime minister [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Son_Sann <u>Son Sann</u>], and the [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Arm%C3%A9e_Nationale_Sihanoukiste&action=edit&redlink=1 <u>ANS</u>], the armed wing of the pro-Sihanouk [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FUNCINPEC <u>FUNCINPEC</u>] party.

The KPNLF, while lacking in military strength compared to the Khmer Rouge, commanded a sizable civilian following (up to 250,000) amongst refugees near the Thai-Cambodian border that had fled the KR regime. Funcinpec had the benefit of traditional peasant Khmer loyalty to the crown and Sihanouk's widespread popularity in the countryside.

In practice, the military strength of the non-KR groups within Cambodia was minimal, though their funding and civilian support was often greater than the KR. The [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margaret_Thatcher <u>Thatcher</u>] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reagan_administration <u>Reagan administrations</u>] both supported the non-KR insurgents covertly, with weapons, and military advisors in the form of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special_Forces_(United_States_Army) <u>Green Berets</u>] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special_Air_Service <u>Special Air Service</u>] units, who taught sabotage techniques in camps just inside Thailand.
===The end of the CGDK and Khmer Rouge [[http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Khmer_Rouge_rule_of_Cambodia&action=edit&section=15 <u>edit</u>]]===
A UN-led [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peacekeeping <u>peacekeeping</u>] mission that took place from 1991–95 sought to end violence in the country and establish a democratic system of government through new elections. The 1990s saw a marked decline in insurgent activity, though the Khmer Rouge later renewed their attacks against the government. As [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vietnam <u>Vietnam</u>] disengaged from direct involvement in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cambodia <u>Cambodia</u>], the government was able to begin to split the KR movement by making peace offers to lower level officials. The Khmer Rouge was the only member of the CGDK to continue fighting following the reconciliation process. The other two political organizations that made up the CGDK alliance ended armed resistance and became a part of the political process that began with elections in 1993.

In 1997, Pol Pot ordered the execution of his right-hand man Son Sen for attempting peace negotiations with the Cambodian government. In 1998, Pol Pot himself died, and other key KR leaders [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khieu_Samphan <u>Khieu Samphan</u>] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ieng_Sary <u>Ieng Sary</u>] surrendered to the government of <span id="cke_bm_87S" style="display: none;"> </span><span style="display: none;"> </span>[[Hun Sen|Hun Sen&nbsp;]]<span style="display: none;"> </span> in exchange for immunity from prosecution, leaving [[Ta Mok]] as the sole commander of the Khmer Rouge forces; he was detained in 1999 for "[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crimes_against_humanity <u>crimes against humanity</u>]." The organization essentially ceased to exist.
Recovery and trials [edit] Since 1990 Cambodia has gradually recovered, demographically and economically, from the Khmer Rouge regime, although the psychological scars affect many Cambodian families and émigré communities. The current government teaches little about Khmer Rouge atrocities in schools. Cambodia has a very young population and by 2005 three-quarters of Cambodians were too young to remember the Khmer Rouge years. The younger generations would only know the Khmer Rouge through word-of-mouth from parents and elders. In 1997, Cambodia established a Khmer Rouge Trial Task Force to create a legal and judicial structure to try the remaining leaders for war crimes and other crimes against humanity, but progress was slow, mainly because the Cambodian government of ex-Khmer Rouge Cadre Hun Sen, despite its origins in the Vietnamese-backed regime of the 1980s, was reluctant to bring the Khmer Rouge leaders to trial. Funding shortfalls plagued the operation, and the government said that due to the poor economy and other financial commitments, it could only afford limited funding for the tribunal. Several countries, including India and Japan, came forward with extra funds, but by January 2006, the full balance of funding was not yet in place. Nonetheless, the task force began its work and took possession of two buildings on the grounds of the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces (RCAF) High Command headquarters in Kandal province just on the outskirts of Phnom Penh. The tribunal task force expects to spend the rest of 2006 training the judges and other tribunal members before the actual trial is to take place.[citation needed] In March 2006 the Secretary General of the United Nations, Kofi Annan, nominated seven judges for a trial of the Khmer Rouge leaders. In May 2006, Justice Minister Ang Vong Vathana announced that Cambodia's highest judicial body approved 30 Cambodian and U.N. judges to preside over the genocide tribunal for some surviving Khmer Rouge leaders. The chief Khmer Rouge torturer [[Kang Kek Iew ]]– known as Duch and ex-commandant of the notorious S-21 prison – went on trial for crimes against humanity on February 17, 2009. It is the first case involving a senior Pol Pot cadre three decades after the end of a regime blamed for 1.7 million deaths in Cambodia.[22]

===Legal questions relating to the status of the deaths in Cambodia -- genocide, democide, or other? [[http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Khmer_Rouge_rule_of_Cambodia&action=edit&section=17 <u>edit</u>]]===
While the events in Cambodia are widely considered to be a genocide or democide and referred to as such, some<span style="font-size:11.199999809265137px;line-height:0px;white-space:nowrap;"> </span>argue that the deaths in Cambodia fail to meet the definition of genocide in the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Convention_on_the_Prevention_and_Punishment_of_the_Crime_of_Genocide <u>Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide</u>].<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-23">[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cambodian_Genocide#cite_note-23 <u>[23</u>]]</sup> [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steven_Rosefielde <u>Steven Rosefielde</u>] states that there is "no evidence Pol Pot sought to exterminate the Khmer people, or even the Cham and religious minorities." Instead, he defines Khmer Rouge killings as "''dystopicide''": "The no-prisoners-taken pursuit of badly implemented, poorly conceived communist utopia-building."