Word: khmer
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...still streaming across the border into neighboring Thailand. Interviewed by TIME Hong Kong Bureau Chief Marsh Clark at a Thai military prison near the border town of Aranyaprathet, the deserters provided details about the continued warfare between Hanoi's army and the remnants of Pol Pot's Khmer Rouge forces, and about what is fast becoming the complete "Vietnamization" of Cambodia...
...ideologically suspect South Vietnamese, the three soldiers were treated as second-class citizens who were not allowed to carry weapons in Hanoi's army. They trailed behind North Vietnamese regulars engaged in mop-up operations against the Khmer Rouge insurgents. Casualties and deaths were heavy in combat with the fierce Khmer. The South Vietnamese had the grisly duty of loading the body bags of the dead onto trucks headed back to Viet Nam. Lately, the deserters reported, Hanoi has been ordering the Vietnamese dead to be buried within Cambodia...
After nearly a year of fighting the remnants of Pol Pot's Khmer Rouge forces, Hanoi's troops appear to have driven the guerrillas out of their last remaining towns and into sanctuaries, the jungles and mountains. Says Labbe: "As far as I could make out, there isn't a single population center in all of Cambodia, big or small, that is under Pol Pot control or that has a Khmer Rouge flag flying overhead...
...Vietnamese have reversed Pol Pot's most radical policies, allowing some Cambodians to return to the villages and cities from which they were banished as a result of the Khmer Rouge's forced resettlement of farmlands. Hanoi has also allowed a number of activities that were strictly forbidden under Pol Pot, "such as falling in love, taking a little time off from work, and dancing," says Labbe. "There are even some private barbershops and ladies' hairdressing salons in Phnom-Penh." Electricity was operating in every major city Labbe visited. "It seemed strange to be spending my nights...
...only institution seemingly left undamaged by the Khmer Rouge is the Antiquities Museum, with its collection of precious artifacts, the Chamcar Mon Palace, which Heng Samrin uses as headquarters, and the graceful Samarki (Solidarity) Hotel, formerly the Phnom, temporary home of teams from CARE, OXFAM and UNESCO. The unused swimming pool is filled with dirty water, prompting speculation that it has not been changed since the days of Lon Nol. It was never changed then either. The hotel bar, the only one functioning in town, can occasionally come up with a bottle of "33" beer imported from Viet...