Рет қаралды 1,180,413
(2 Apr 1998) Khmer/Eng/Nat
Khmer Rouge hard-liners in Cambodia have regained ground from mutineers supported by government troops and taken thousands of civilians back under their control, according to Thai army officials.
Hundreds of Khmer Rouge guerrillas in Cambodia have been defecting to the government, including members from the group's hard-line headquarters in Anlong Veng.
The Cambodian government claims that so far some 15-hundred guerrillas have joined them since last week.
Maintaining the propaganda war, Khmer Rouge leaders claimed to have shot down a personnel transport helicopter with 44 people on board - a claim quickly refuted.
Fighting continues for control of Anlong Veng, the jungle headquarters of Cambodia's last Khmer Rouge faction.
The Anlong Veng faction is the last remnant of the Khmer Rouge to
have resisted peace with the government since the revolutionary group ruptured in 1996.
But mutineers rebelled against their leadership last week and - supported by the army of Cambodia's premier Hun Sen - appear to have the last die-hards on the run.
A Khmer garrison also peacefully surrendered Preah Vihear over to government troops over the weekend.
Preah Vihear - an 800-year-old clifftop temple on the Thai border - had previously been an impregnable base of the Khmer Rouge.
The surrender was part of a growing number of defections by hundreds of guerrillas since a rebellion against their leaders based further east in Anlong Veng last week.
SOUNDBITE: (Khmer)
"We've pushed the hard-liners out of Anlong Veng."
SUPER CAPTION: Khmer Rouge Soldier
SOUNDBITE: (Khmer)
"It's going to take a long time. It'll go on maybe for another three or four months."
SUPER CAPTION: Khmer Rouge Soldier
Khmer Rouge radio has not acknowledged the loss of Preah Vihear and was claiming on Wednesday to still control it.
The government claims some 15-hundred guerrillas and their families have defected since last week.
Thai army officials said on Thursday Khmer Rouge hard-liners had regained ground from mutineers supported by government troops and taken thousands of civilians back under their control.
The Khmer Rouge caused the deaths of as many as two (m) million Cambodians between 1975 and 1979.
They continued to wage guerrilla warfare against successive governments in the years that followed.
Splits in the movement have lead to thousands of defections to the government in recent years.
Meanwhile, refugees fleeing the fighting in and around the Khmer Rouge base of Anlong Veng gathered at the Thai border, hoping to cross into safety.
Thailand, which is already sheltering some 50-thousand Cambodian refugees, has refused to admit them declaring they are not in immediate danger from fighting.
The numbers of refugees at the Thai border has halved from a weekend high of 7,000 to about 3,500 on Wednesday.
In Phnom Penh meanwhile, security has been stepped up at the hotel where Prince Norodom Ranariddh is staying after clashes between his supporters and Hun Sen backers.
Police reported no arrests but said four people were injured in the intermittent violence that climaxed in a street battle with sticks and rocks.
Ranariddh - who returned from exile on Monday - stayed in the hotel for security reasons.
He spoke to APTV about his cautious optimism for the future.
SOUNDBITE: (English)
"Now we integrate the people from Siem Reap, people from Pol Pot himself....we have to be cautious. But everything aiming at bringing lasting peace and national reconciliation I welcome."
SUPER CAPTION: Prince Norodom Ranariddh, former co-prime minister
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