Night of the Living Dead

MORTAR rounds were falling near the airstrip of the remote provincial capital of Siem Reap as I braced myself for takeoff inside a United Nations C-130. It was the week in which Cambodia’s first free elections were supposed to start. But the campaign took on a decidedly military turn as the Khmer Rouge declared war on the UN peacekeeping effort.

The UN thought it could trust Pol Pot’s genocidal Communists to support the formation of a legitimate government following decades of atrocities, war, and foreign occupation—only to find that it is now the target of their terrorism. The Khmer Rouge intensified attacks across the country in April, as Pol Pot’s spokesman, Khieu Samphan, announced that they were pulling out of the Supreme National Council (SNC), a governing body created by the UN to bring together Cambodia’s warring factions. “Are you a journalist?” asked a Canadian Mountie working for the United Nations Transitional Authority for Cambodia (UNTAC). “Just stick around: you are going to have a real war here.”

MA

About the Author

Martin Arostegui

Featured Tags

MORTAR rounds were falling near the airstrip of the remote provincial capital of Siem Reap as I braced myself for takeoff inside a United Nations C-130. It was the week in which Cambodia’s first free elections were supposed to start. But the campaign took on a decidedly military turn as the Khmer Rouge declared war on the UN peacekeeping effort.

The UN thought it could trust Pol Pot’s genocidal Communists to support the formation of a legitimate government following decades of atrocities, war, and foreign occupation—only to find that it is now the target of their terrorism. The Khmer Rouge intensified attacks across the country in April, as Pol Pot’s spokesman, Khieu Samphan, announced that they were pulling out of the Supreme National Council (SNC), a governing body created by the UN to bring together Cambodia’s warring factions. “Are you a journalist?” asked a Canadian Mountie working for the United Nations Transitional Authority for Cambodia (UNTAC). “Just stick around: you are going to have a real war here.”