Cambodia

Cambodia is a country in South East Asia, less than half the size of California and twice the size of Scotland. Once it was the centre of the ancient kingdom of the Khmer, and its capital was Angkor, famous for its 12th century temples. The present day capital is Phnom Penh. In 1953 Cambodia gained independence after nearly 100 years of French rule. In the 1960s the population was over 7million, almost all Buddhists, under the rule of a monarch, Prince Sihanouk. Cambodia was also caught up in another country's war. Cambodia's neighbor to the east is Vietnam, which had also fought against the French to gain independence. When the French were defeated in 1954, Vietnam was divided in two: communist North Vietnam and pro-Western South Vietnam. Civil war immediately broke out. The Viet Cong, a group of Vietnamese communist guerrillas, based themselves in the jungles of South Vietnam and fought against the South Vietnamese army from there. In 1964, the USA entered the Vietnam war, with airpower, firebombs and poisonous defoliants, but found they could not budge the determined Vietnamese communists. The inconclusive war in Vietnam cost many American and Vietnamese lives, devastated the country, and achieved nothing but misery for anyone caught up in it, including the Cambodians. The Khmer Rouge guerrilla movement in 1970 was small. Their leader, Pol Pot, had been educated in France and was an admirer of Maoist (Chinese) communism; he was also suspicious of Vietnam's relations with Cambodia. The heavy American bombardment, and Lon Nol's collaboration with America, drove new recruits to the Khmer Rouge. So did Chinese backing and North Vietnamese training for them. By 1975 Pol Pot's force had grown to over 700,000 men. Lon Nol's army was kept busy trying to suppress not only Vietnamese communists on Cambodian territory but also Cambodia's own brand of communists, the Khmer Rouge. The Khmer Rouge from 1975 until 1979 when Cambodia was ruled by the government of Pol Pot and his Khmer Rouge party the official name of the country was Democratic Kampuchea French. The period saw the death of approximately 1.7 million Cambodians through the combined result of political executions, starvation, and forced labor. Invasion by neighbor and former ally Vietnam led to the Khmer Rouge's downfall left Cambodia under Vietnamese occupation for a decade and sparked the Third Indochina War in 1978.

Finally, on March 17, 2003, the United Nations reached a draft agreement with the Cambodian government for an international criminal tribunal to try former Khmer Rouge leaders. The agreement came after five years of negotiations and 24 years after the Khmer Rouge were driven from power. Under the agreement, the panel of judges will include a majority of Cambodians. Human rights groups argue that the government's ability to impose its will on these judges poses an unacceptable obstacle to justice. On the other hand, with many likely defendants over the age of 70, time is running out for justice to be served. No senior Khmer Rouge official has ever been called to account for the regime's atrocities. Pol Pot died in 1998 under mysterious circumstances in the jungles of Thailand as the international community closed in on his capture. Two of his top deputies вЂ" Ta Mok and Kaing Khek Iev вЂ" are in jail after being seized by the government in recent years, but have not been convicted of any crimes. Other key leaders like Nuon Chea, Khieu Sampheu, and Ieng Sary remain free. Thousands of perpetrators continue to roam the countryside. After years of pained negotiation between the United Nations and the Cambodian government, an agreement was reached last year establishing special chambers within the Cambodian court structure to prosecute the handful of former Khmer Rouge leaders deemed "most responsible" for war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide. The tribunal is to consist of both foreign and Cambodian prosecutors and judges. In an awkward and complex formula, Cambodian judges would outnumber their foreign counterparts, but would need the vote of at least one foreign judge to confirm any decisions. After years of division