Cold War Refugees: Cambodian Refugee Crisis (1969-1993)

Figure 1.-- Here a Scottish nurse working with the Red Cross is aiding Cambodian refuggees in a Thai refugee camp. The press caption reads, "Comfort for a Cambodian child in Khao I Dang refugee camp, Thailand, from Red Cross nurse Helen Fraser of Edinburgh, who is spending Christmas working in the camp's hospital." The photograph is dated December 23, 1979.

The Cambodian humanitarian crisis began with the escalation of the Vietnam War, especially North Viertmananmese movement and enlargement of the Ho Chi Minh Trail, part of which ran thriough easter Cambodia, and American efforts to disrupt North Vietnamese miovemnt on the Trail. This began a humanitarian crisis affecting the Cambodian people, including death, torture, hunger, displacement, or emigratiomn for millions of Cambodians. Unlike the Vietnamese, the Cambodians did not become boat people. There were several phases of the developing Vietnanmese crisus: 1) Fighting in eastern Cambodia spilling over from the Vietnam War (1969). 2) The Cambodian Civil War between the Lon Nol government and the Communist Khmer Rouge (1970-75). This included the United States bombing of eastern Cambodia targetting thee Khmer Rouge and North Vietnamese sanctuaries and bases inside Cambodia and movemnbt down the Ho Chi Minh Trail. 3) The Kymer Rouge enter Pnom Penh and ruled the country for 4 deadly years (1975-79). This was by far the most deadly phase of the huminanitarian crisis as gthe Kymer Rouge launch an horific genocide. The Khmer Rouge as a matter of policy murdered or killed by starvation aquarter of the 8 million Cambodian people. 4) Next the Viernmese invaded Cambodia and overthrew the Khmer Rouge. Vietnam and the puppet Cambodian government it put in place governed the country for the 12 years. The Khmer Rouge and other groups fought a guerrilla war against the Vietnamese and the Cambodian government, mostly in western Cambodia. Few Cambodians during the Kymer Rouge era could make it to the Thai norder. With the Vietmamese invasion, the chaos created the opportunity for thousands to make the arduous trip to the Thai border, largely on foot (1979-80). They were not only escaping the fighting, but the famine that Kymer Rouge had caused. Various humanitarian organizations sought to meet the needs of the wave of humnity reaching Thailnd. Only the war between the Vietnamese and Kymer Rouge did not end, itvwent on for a decade (1981-91). This meant that hundreds of thousands of Cambodians were stuck in the Thai refugee camps, many along the border. Some 260,000 of the refugees were resettled abroad, more than half in the United States. The Cambodian humanitarian crisis was not resolved uhtil (1991-93). The Kymer Rouge finally layed down their arms. The Vietnamese withdrew from Cambdia. The United Nations attempted to help form an elected government. Some 360,000 Cambodians were repatriated from the Thai camps. They were emptied and closed. .

Created: 9:53 PM 10/9/2018
Last updated: 9:53 PM 10/9/2018