Pol Pot (100 page)

   237

Ben Kiernan has written that the Third Congress approved a decision to ‘expel theVietnamese’ and treat them as the CPK’s long-term ‘acute enemy’ (

pp. 328–30); see also Heder,

p. 19; and Morris,

pp. 56 and 59–60. This is contradicted by Non Suon’s confession, by CPK internal documents from 1972 onwards and by the subsequent development of CPK-VWP relations — all of which indicate clearly that, while there was mistrust ofVietnamese intentions, the CPK sought to avoid an open split until at least 1976. In this context, it is noteworthy that a hostile Vietnamese account quotes Ieng Sary as reassuring theVietnamese leaders in 1971 and again in 1974 that Vietnamese—Cambodian solidarity was ‘vital’ for the revolution (Le Quang Ba, ‘Un sommaire de la situation Cambodgienne’, Doc. 32(N442)/T8807, VA).

238

Already in late 1971, the Secretary of one Eastern Zone region wrote to ‘Ba Hai’ [Pham Van Ba], the head of the Vietnamese Liaison Committee:‘I do not think it is right for your men to use military force against our men [to resolve disputes] and

[emphasis supplied] (Morris,

p. 57, quoting a document in the Indochina Archive, University of California, Berkeley).

240

Dec. 10 1971;

Aug. 5 1972;’Interview with Oriana Fallaci’,

Aug. 12 1973.

241

Ieng Sary said he arrived in Beijing in April 1971, and spent three months there in secret before his arrival was announced officially (interview). Thiounn Mumm (interview) and Van Piny (confession, Feb. 16 1978) both dated his arrival to July 1971. Sihanouk knew of his return in the first half of July (

p. 93).

Ponchaud, interview; Shawcross,

p. 255—6.

242

Ruos Nhim, confession, June 14 1978.

pp. 72–4.

‘Directive de 870’, Feb. 2 1973, in Doc. 32(N442)/T8o53,VA. Sihanouk himself has given a very different account of the Khmers Rouges’ decision to let him return to Cambodia (

pp. 123–5; see also Chanda,

p. 70).

Ith Sarin,

pp. 5—6.

244

‘Excerpts from the minutes of the meeting between Comrade Le Duan and Ieng Sary’, Apr. 8 1973, in Doc.TLM/165, ‘Les Perspectives, les Lignes et la Politique Etrangère du Parti Communiste Cambodgien’,VA.

A Vietnamese text quoted Zhou Enlai as telling Ieng Sary in the summer of 1973: ‘Experience has shown that sitting down to negotiate does not mean compromising; because we have more advantages, in negotiation they must accept our requirements; thus we would negotiate in a more advantageous position, it does not mean compromising’ (‘Excerpts . . . from a series of meetings between Ieng Sary and Brother Le Duc Tho in July and August 1973’, Doc.TLM/165,

). A few months later, according to another Vietnamese transcript, Zhou said, ‘US imperialism is tending to shrink; the Soviet Union is tending to expand’ — causing theVietnamese editor to comment: ‘In truth . . . China wants Cambodia to yield to the United States in order to resist the so-called “Soviet expansionism in South East Asia”’ (‘Excerpts from the meeting between Ieng Sary and Brother Le Due Tho in November 1973’, Doc.TLM/165,

). In Sopheap also thought part of the Chinese message to the Cambodians at that time was, ‘When you chase away the wolf, don’t forget the tiger’ in the shape of the USSR (interview).

246

Quinn,

pp. 32–3.

247

Pol Pot,

. See also Carney, ‘The Organization of Power’, in Jackson,

pp. 99–100.

248

Ping Say, interview.

249

See, for example, the photographs published in

11 1971.

Someth May recalled meeting a Khmer Rouge in the North-West who eventerated a monkey to show him ‘the way I used to kill the Lon Nol soldiers when we caught them and the way to get the liver out’ (

pp. 160–1).

250

—1

The following is drawn mainly from Deac,

, Ch. 8. See also Pol’s account, in a speech in June 1976, in Chandler et al.,

pp. 31–2.

251

Siet Chhê, confession, May 11 1977; Tiv Ol was quoted as saying that year that Vietnam was a friend, but ‘not very loyal’ (Kiernan,

, p. 388). For the date of the plenum, see Non Suon, confession, Jan. 14 1977.

251

–2

This account draws on visits to Chrok Sdêch, Boeng Var and Ra Smach in December 2001 and on conversations with local villagers. See also Thiounn Thioeunn and Thiounn Maly, interviews.

252

Nikân, interview

253

–4

Kong Duong, interview:

254

Comité Permanent de la Zone Est, ‘Directives Complémentaires: Pour faire face au mouvement Khmer Islam (d’origine Cham). . . en supplément du directive No. 20 du 25 novembre 1973’, Dec. 6 1973, in Doc. 32(N442)/T8o53, VA. Given the propensity of all Cambodian leaders, including Sihanouk, Pol and Hun Sen, to micromanage policy, it is inconceivable that such a directive would have been circulated without a text having first been issued in the name of the Standing Committee. Pang said there was widespread discontent in the Northern Zone in late 1973/early 1974, ‘especially along the Mekong’, and ‘at one time the Cham almost rose up against the revolution’ (confession, May 28 1978).

255

—6

This account relies on Phi Phuon, who accompanied Pol to Kep (interview). In 1978, when a Yugoslav journalists’ delegation visiting Democratic Kampuchea was taken to the beach at Kep for a swim, their Khmer Rouge bodyguards waded fully-dressed into the sea after them carrying their weapons (conversations in Beijing in the summer of 1978 with Drago Rancic of

who was a member of the group).

256

Yun Soeun, confession, May 26 1977.

1975, pp. 1–23.

257

Phi Phuon, interview.

For an excellent discussion of this topic as it relates to the Cambodian revolution, see Vickery,

pp. 299–309, and Ghita Ionescu and Ernest Gellner,

Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1969, pp. 106–9.

258

Phi Phuon, interview.

259

Phi Phuon, Ping Say, interviews.

See Vorn Vet, confession, Nov. 24 1978; Phouk Chhay, Mar. 20 and 24 1977; May Sakhan, confession, Oct. 9 1976; Toch Phoeun, confession, Mar. 14 1977; Non Suon, confession, Nov. 19 1976; Phi Phuon, interview; Tan Hao, cited in Kiernan and Boua,

pp. 274–6.

Phi Phuon, interview.

259

–60

Ibid.; Bizot,

pp. 383–5.

260

Phi Phuon, interview.

264

Except where otherwise indicated, the following account is drawn from Deac,

Ch.io; Chandler,

pp. 233–5; Swain,

esp. pp. 122–32.

Apr. 17 1975; Haing Ngor,

p. 73. See also George Hildebrand and Gareth Porter,

Monthly Review Press, New York, 1976, pp. 7 and 19–38.

Corfield,

pp. 218–23.

265

Phi Phuon, interview.

Swain,

pp. 126–8; Nikán, interview; Corfield,

pp. 224–5; Deac,

pp. 222–3.

Criddle and Butt Mam,

, p. 3; Yasuko Naito, in De Nike et al., p. 96; Ponchaud,

p. 3.

Schanberg,

p. 16; Swain,

p. 131.

Kan, interview.

266

Composite accounts of the events of the morning of Apr. 17 are given by Justin Corfield in

pp. 225–31, and Kiernan in

pp. 34–40. See also Ponchaud,

pp. 4–5; Swain,

pp. 136–7; Bernard Hamel,

Albin Michel, Paris, 1977, pp. 58—9; Ros Chantrabot, pp. 124–7.

267

Radio Phnom Penh, Apr. 17 1975 in BBC SWB FE4881/A3/1–3.

268

Ponchaud,

p. 6.

Nikân, interview.