Word: sihanouk
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Last January, with domestic conflicts developing over economic reforms and the issue of the Vietnamese troops, Sihanouk decided to depart for France. It was a familiar gambit - leave at a time when trouble is brewing, come back after the situation has worsened, point out how inefficient the temporary chieftains have been and then create a flurry of activity that resembles a solution. This time, however, Sihanouk's absence simply gave Lon Nol and Sirik Matak time to plot...
...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...
...placards they carried had been printed on government presses. The North Vietnamese and N.L.F. embassies were sacked. Though the demonstrations were sparked by the army, there was enough spontaneous participation to indicate a high level of popular hatred for the North Vietnamese. It was then that the anti-Sihanouk forces seriously began to consider ousting the prince...
...Vietnamese troop presence. In addition, exploratory post-riot talks with the affronted North Vietnamese in Phnom-Penh got nowhere. The Communist diplomats brushed aside the rights or wrongs of 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...
...first sign that Sihanouk might have lost control came when air controllers at Phnom-Penh's Pochentong Airport began to turn away incoming airliners. A Burma Airways plane, whose passengers included a U.S. Coast Guard officer en route to Cambodia to negotiate the return of the hijacked Columbia Eagle (see THE NATION), was in its approach pattern when it was waved off. A few hours later, a government communiqué announced: "In view of the political crisis created in recent days by the chief of state, Prince Sihanouk, and in conformity with the constitution, the National Assembly...