Who led the Khmer Rouge in a reign of terror as they executed millions of Cambodians?
1 Answer
Pol Pot
Explanation:
He was born Saloth Sar in 1928 but kept this name a closely guarded secret. He died in 1998. He led or participated various versions of the Cambodian Communists sometimes referred to as the Khmer Rouge. He was Premier of Cambodia from 1976 to 1979.
He organized the mass killings of about a million Cambodians. It is possible to visit detention areas and mass graves near Penom Penh. Survivors are available at a museum to give their remembrance of those times. Their are few very old people in Cambodia as they did not survive.
The Vietnamese Army retook Phnom Penh in 1979 and removed the Khmer Rouge Government. With few allies the Khmer Rouge kept up a low level war against the new central government. A cease fire finally took hold in 2000.
Weariness at the eternal conflict a time of relative peace and reconstruction has prevailed. There is renewed political tension of late.
Cambodia has a great number of mines and unexploded ordinance from various wars including the American Vietnamese War.
