Word: lon
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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Down to Size. Styling itself a "government of salvation," the regime of General Lon Nol, the Premier, and Prince Sirik Matak, the Deputy Premier, moved to persuade Cambodia of the rightness of its rule. In meetings with major national groups-leading Buddhist bonzes, district chiefs, students and members of Sihanouk's own political movement, the Sangkum-the new leaders explained their actions in detail and stressed the economic difficulties and moral corruption of recent years. Key Sihanouk backers were jailed...
...Army Affair. An equally serious difficulty was the Communist Vietnamese military presence. Before Sihanouk's fall, Lon Nol called on the Communists to evacuate their Cambodian sanctuaries immediately. That demand was not emphasized publicly after the takeover. Nonetheless, Sirik Matak told TIME Correspondent Burton Pines in Phnom-Penh that getting rid of the Communist forces remained a primary goal. "We demand that they immediately leave our territory," the prince said. "Sihanouk violated his own-and our-proclaimed policy of neutralism by permitting the Vietnamese foreigners to stay inside Cambodia. We cannot tolerate it. We have every expectation that this...
...February, the governors of Cambodia's 19 provinces met in Phnom-Penh. As they reported, one by one, on their problems, it slowly became apparent that unrest extended over most of the nation - and that the chief source of the trouble was the North Vietnamese presence. Lon Nol and Sirik Matak decided that something had to be done to drive home the seriousness of the situation to both the wandering Sihanouk and the North Vietnamese...
...their military presence; they were only interested in reparations and a public apology for their ruined embassies. At that point Sihanouk weighed in with a cable warning of Soviet unhappiness with the demonstrations and indicating that he had no plans to get tough with Hanoi's representatives. Lon Nol and Sirik Matak decided that the time had come to shut the door on the returning prince. The National Assembly and the Council of the Kingdom removed Sihanouk as head of state and named Assembly Speaker Cheng Heng as his acting successor...
Back in Phnom-Penh, Lon Nol and Sirik Matak had been doing their best to make Kosygin's allies uncomfortable. They sent pro forma notes of apology to the North Vietnamese and the Viet Cong for the damage to their embassies but at the same time handed the Communists an ultimatum: all of their troops must be out within three days...