Withdrawal of Troops – 1991
1991
The military invasion of Cambodia by the Vietnamese troops resulted in the removal of Khmer Rouge regime in Cambodia. After their defeat, the Khmer started a guerilla insurgency. In this context, the 1991 Paris agreement called for the withdrawal of foreign forces, advisers, and military personnel remaining in Cambodia.
In a news conference, Hun Sen, who was the Chairman of the Council of Ministers and a member of Supreme National Council, addressed the questions related to Vietnamese residents in Cambodia and Vietnamese troops referring statistics on ethnic minorities. He informed SNC that “Vietnamese residents in the country before 1970 under Samdech Norodom Sihanouk’s rule numbered from 400,000 to 500,000. They were mostly rubber plantation workers; some lived along the Mekong River and the Tonle Sap. Under Lon Nol’s repression, a number of them fled to Vietnam. Under Pol Pot’s repression, some fled to Vietnam along with a number of Cambodians. According to the 1987 statistics, there were 130,000. Thus, compared to the 500,000 residents in 1970, it is very different. Following the withdrawal of Vietnamese troops from Cambodia, a number of Vietnamese residents, afraid that Pol Pot might be back, returned to Vietnam. There are now over 90,000 Vietnamese residents in Cambodia.”1 This statement can be taken as a verification of the withdrawal of Vietnamese troops from Cambodia.
A complete withdrawal of Vietnamese troops, however, was contested by the Khmer Rouge.
(Note: According to a Khmer Rouge Radio (the Great National Union Front of Cambodia radio) report, “the National Army of Democratic Kampuchea had captured a two- star Vietnamese officer around O Ta Sek along the Stoeng Sen river below Kompong Thom provincial town.” The captured officer was said to have disguised himself as a Cambodian civilian and led the lead Vietnamese forces.2 Khmer Rouge Radio cannot be taken as authentic information provider.)