Kampuchea Is Peace at Hand?

Fears persist of a possible return by the murderous Khmer Rouge

For two decades, Kampuchea has been torn by one of the 20th century's goriest conflicts. During its 3 1/2-year reign, the sternly Communist Khmer Rouge killed anywhere from 1 million to 2 million Kampucheans in a genocidal resettlement program. Up to another million fled, swarming into refugee camps across the border in Thailand. In 1979 invading Vietnamese troops overthrew the murderous Pol Pot. Since then, the Hanoi-backed government in Phnom Penh has been at war with a coalition of three rebel factions that includes as many as 35,000 fighters of the ousted Khmer Rouge.

The dispute involves a dizzyingly complex array...

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