Cambodia

Timeline 1863 – Under the rule King Norodo, Cambodia becomes a protectorate of France. French colonial rule lasts for 90 years. 1941 - Prince Norodom Sihanouk (after being chosen by France) becomes king. Cambodia is occupied by Japan during World War II. 1945 - The Japanese occupation ends. 1946 - France re-imposes its protectorate. A new constitution permits Cambodians to form political parties. Communist guerrillas begin an armed campaign against the French.

Independence 1953 - Cambodia wins its independence from France. Under King Sihanouk, it becomes the Kingdom of Cambodia. 1955 - Sihanouk abdicates to pursue a political career. His father becomes king and Sihanouk becomes prime minister. 1965 - Sihanouk breaks off relations with the US and allows North Vietnamese guerrillas to set up bases in Cambodia in pursuance of their campaign against the US-backed government in South Vietnam.

1969 - The US begins a 14 month bombing campaign against North Vietnamese forces on Cambodian soil. Domestic Cambodian politics polarized. Opposition grew within the middle class and among leftists including Paris-educated leaders such as Son Sen, Ieng Sary, and Saloth Sar (later known as Pol Pot), who led an insurgency under the clandestine Communist Party of Kampuchea (CPK)

1970 - Sihanouk is deposed in a coup while abroad 1970 - Sihanouk is deposed in a coup while abroad. The prime minister, General Lon Nol, assumes power. He proclaims the Khmer Republic and sends the army to fight the North Vietnamese in Cambodia.

The United States moved to provide material assistance to the new government's armed forces. April 1970, US President Nixon announced to the American public that US and South Vietnamese ground forces had entered Cambodia in a campaign aimed at destroying NVA base areas in Cambodia.

In 1972, a constitution was adopted, a parliament elected, and Lon Nol became president.

Cambodia Year Zero 1975 -On New Year's Day, Communist troops launched an offensive which, in 117 days of the hardest fighting of the war, collapsed the Khmer Republic. There where simultaneous attacks around the perimeter of Phnom Penh while other units overran fire bases controlling the vital lower Mekong suply route. A US-funded airlift of ammunition and rice ended when Congress refused additional aid for Cambodia. Phnom Penh and other cities were subjected to daily rocket attacks causing thousands of civilian casualties. The Lon Nol government in Phnom Penh surrendered on April 17, 5 days after the US mission evacuated Cambodia.

All urban citizens are evacuated to the countryside to become agricultural workers. Money becomes worthless and religion is banned. The Khmer Rouge coin the phrase "Year Zero". Hundreds of thousands of the educated middle-classes are tortured and executed in special centers. Others starve, or die from disease or exhaustion. The total death toll during the next three years is estimated to be at least 1.7 million.

1976 - The country is re-named Democratic Kampuchea 1976 - The country is re-named Democratic Kampuchea. Sihanouk resigns, Khieu Samphan becomes head of state, Pol Pot is prime minister. 1977 - Fighting breaks out with Vietnam. 1978 - Vietnamese forces invade in a lightning assault.

1979 January - The Vietnamese take Phnom Penh 1979 January - The Vietnamese take Phnom Penh. Pol Pot and Khmer Rouge forces flee to the border region with Thailand. The People's Republic of Kampuchea is established. Many elements of life before the Khmer Rouge take-over are re-established. 1981 - The pro-Vietnamese Kampuchean People's Revolutionary Party wins the elections to the National Assembly. The international community refuses to recognize the new government. The government-in-exile, which includes the Khmer Rouge and Sihanouk, retains its seat at the United Nations.

1985 - Hun Sen becomes prime minister 1985 - Hun Sen becomes prime minister. Since guerrillas are still very strong, hundreds of thousands become refugees. 1989 - Vietnamese troops withdraw. Hun Sen tries to attract foreign investment by abandoning socialism. The country is re-named the State of Cambodia. Buddhism is re-established as the state religion.

An uneasy peace 1991 - A peace agreement is signed in Paris. A UN transitional authority shares power temporarily with representatives of the various factions in Cambodia. Sihanouk becomes head of state. 1993 - The monarchy is restored, Sihanouk becomes king again. The country is re-named the Kingdom of Cambodia. The government-in-exile loses its seat at the UN.

1994 - Thousands of Khmer Rouge guerrillas surrender in government amnesty. 1996 - Deputy leader of Khmer Rouge Ieng Sary forms a new party and is granted amnesty by Sihanouk.

Coup 1997 - Hun Sen stages a coup against the prime minister, Prince Ranariddh, and replaces him with Ung Huot. The coup attracts international condemnation. The Khmer Rouge puts Pol Pot on trial and sentence him to life imprisonment.

1998 - Pol Pot dies. Elections in July are won by Hun Sen's CPP 1998 - Pol Pot dies. Elections in July are won by Hun Sen's CPP. Hun Sen becomes prime minister, Ranariddh is president of the National Assembly. 2001 - Senate approves a law to create a tribunal to bring genocide charges against Khmer Rouge leaders. 2001 June - International donors, encouraged by Cambodia's reform efforts, pledge $560 million in aid at a donor conference in Tokyo.

Saloth Sar-Pol Pot Early '60s, he secretly formed the Khmer Workers' Party to resist Cambodia's ruler, Prince Norodom Sihanouk. He disappeared into the jungle in 1963, where he adapted the name Pol Pot He participated in the antifrench resistance under the leadership of Ho Chi Minh. He became the leather of Khmer rouge and began the masacre by considering everyone an enemy of the state.

He installed torture bases in old schools He installed torture bases in old schools. The most famous one is Tuol Slang in Phnom Penh. Today is a museum. He also created extermination camps. During the masacre there was a silent from the international community. No IO’s where allowed to enter the country.

During 1975-1979 Cambodia became the #1 producer of rice, while people where forced to work and die in the fields.

Cambodia today…

Full name: Kingdom of Cambodia Population: 13.7 million (via UN, 2006) Capital and largest city: Phnom Penh Major language: Khmer Major religion: Buddhism Life expectancy: 52 years (men), 60 years (women) (UN) Main exports: Clothing, timber, rubber GNI per capita: US $380 (World Bank, 2006)

The executive branch comprises the king, who is head of state an appointed prime minister seven deputy prime ministers 15 senior ministers 28 ministers 135 secretaries of state 146 undersecretaries of state. The bicameral legislature consists of a 123-member elected National Assembly and a 61-member Senate. The judiciary includes a Supreme Court and lower courts. Administrative subdivisions are 20 provinces and 4 municipalities.

King Norodom Head of state: King Norodom Sihamoni. King Sihamoni was sworn in as monarch on 29 October 2004. Born in 1953, he studied in Czechoslovakia. He left Cambodia for France after the fall of the Khmer Rouge in 1979.

Hun Sen Prime minister: Hun Sen Hun Sen, one of the world's longest-serving prime ministers, has been in power in various coalitions since 1985. He was re-elected by parliament in July 2004 after nearly a year of political stalemate. His Cambodian People's Party (CPP) won general elections in 2003, but without enough seats for it to rule alone .

For a time he was a member of the Khmer Rouge. He has denied accusations that he was once a top official within the movement, saying he was only an ordinary soldier. In the late 1970s he joined anti-Khmer Rouge forces based in Vietnam

When Vietnam installed a new government in Cambodia in 1979, he returned as minister of foreign affairs, becoming prime minister in 1985 at the age of 33. He refused to cede power in 1993, when the Funcinpec party headed by Prince Norodom Ranariddh won the election, but acquiesced to a coalition government with the prince as first prime minister and Hun Sen himself as second prime minister. A group of US Senators proposed a bill that would grant Cambodia a further $21.5m in aid if Hun Sen was not re-elected in 2003.

In 2002, the CPP made sweeping gains in the country's first ever multi-party local elections In the 2003 general elections, he again gained a majority, but it took 11 months of political struggling before he formed a coalition with the runner-up, Funcinpec. The government was finally ratified in July 2004.

Prime Minister Hun Sen and his allies control several broadcasters. Although press freedom is not guaranteed, Hun Sen has declared his support for press freedom, publicly praising the benefits to society of an unfettered media.

Cambodia is one of the poorest countries in the world and it relies heavily on aid. Subsistence farming employs 70% of the workforce, with the Mekong River providing fertile, irrigated fields for rice production. Exports of clothing provide most of Cambodia's foreign exchange.