A recap on what happened in #Cambodia in September 1975 under the #KhmerRouge:

1. Prince Sihanouk returned from #Beijing (photo) to #Cambodia but he is seen as beeing controlled by the #KhmerRouge.

2. KR decide not to introduce money.

3. Following the #KhmerRouge’s vehement attempts to eradicate Islamic practices, No Min (photo), a Cham Muslim, took part in an unsuccessful uprising against the KR. Hundreds of villagers attacked KR soldiers with machetes and swords but were suppressed quickly. © @vitvelasquez

3.1 Aferwards many Chams were arrested, whole villages were moved away and dispersed amongst ethnically Khmer villages. Male heads of many households were killed. According to Ben Kiernan, Hun Sen, now Prime Minister of #Cambodia, was initially ordered to repress the Cham revolt.

3.2 Hun Sen, then KR regimental chief of staff of Region 21 declined to engage in the repression of the Cham revolt because he was still recuperating in hospital from losing an eye on 16 April in the battle for #PhnomPenh and because 60% of his regiment suffered from Malaria.

4. #Pakistani diplomats are optimistic that its negotiations with the #KhmerRouge to allow the return of 200 #Pakistanis who were expelled from #Cambodia after the Fall of #PhnomPenh will be successful. #Pakistan recognized the KR early and hopes to open an embassy in PP soon.

5. Sun Hao, took up his post as #Chinese ambassador to #Cambodia. He became the first resident ambassador since the #KhmerRouge victory in April.

6. A Vietnamese embassy was also established in #PhnomPenh.

7. Siddhi Savetsila (photo 1980), secretary-general of the National Security Council of #Thailand said that people in #Cambodia are in need of rice, despite claims of no shortage and he estimates that 100,000 tons are needed.

8. A #KhmerRouge document states that a major objective of the population movements was "to deprive city dwellers and former civil servants of their economic and political status and to transform them into peasants, thus preserving the revolutionary achievements”.

Engineer Ung Pech was recalled from the countryside to
Kompong Som because the #KhmerRouge needed technicians for the cranes used to unload #Chinese ships, of which 4 arrived in September. Ung was one of the few survivors of S-21 detention center (photo at S-21, ©John Bryson)