In a telegram sent to the president of the security Council on Dec. 31, 1978, Mr leng Sary, the Cambodian Foreign Minister, stated that since Dec. 25 two Vietnamese divisions supported by aircraft had attacked along Highway 19 (leading from Pleiku through Ratanakiri province to Stung Treng) and penetrated deeply into Cambodian territory; that two more divisions had penetrated deeply into Kratie province along Highway 7; and that Vietnamese troops had launched other attacks on Mondolkiri province.
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He also alleged that Vietnamese aircraft had carried out air raids over Ratanakiri, Stung Treng and Mondolkiri provinces, east of Kompong Cham, and particularly between Snoul and Kratie. Phnom-Penh Radio stated on Jan. 4, 1979, that in addition to Ratanakiri, Mondolkiri and Kratie provinces the Vietnamese forces had attacked since Dec. 25 in Kompong Cham, Svay Rieng, Takeo and Kampot provinces.
The "Voice of the Cambodian People" radio announced on Dec.30 that the "revolutionary armed forces" had "liberated" sectors of Ratanakiri south and north of Highway 19 during Dec. 25-28, and on Dec.31 that Cambodian aircraft had carried out indiscriminate bombing raids on the "liberated zone" of Kratie province. On Jan. 1, 1979, it further announced that "the revolutionary armed forces, in concert with the local inhabitants," had "liberated" the town of Kratie on Dec.30, that hundreds of Khmer Rouge troops had been killed or captured, and that many others had defected to the "revolutionary army". The fall of Lomphat (the capital of Ratanakiri) and Stung Treng was announced on Jan. 3, and that of Takeo on Jan. 5. The Agence France-Presse reported on Jan. 4 that the entire area east of the Mekong and north of Highway 7 was controlled by the United Front.
The United Front announced on Jan. 1 the policies which it proposed to apply in the "liberated zone". These included abolition of the division of the population into three categories ; freedom of movement; freedom of former city-dwellers to return to their former homes; formation of elected "self-management committees" in all localities; election of management committees at factories and farms; reintroduction of primary education; and freedom of religion. Officials and soldiers of the Khmer Rouge regime who surrendered would be allowed to return home, or given work if their homes were not in the "liberated zone".
The Vietnamese Foreign Ministry on Jan. 6 denounced the report that Vietnamese troops had invaded Cambodia as an "odious slander". Describing the United Front as "the sole authentic representative of the Cambodian people", it declared that "the Cambodian people's struggle to overthrow the Pol Pot-leng Sary clique is completely their internal affair, and nobody has the right to interfere".
Western military analysts suggested that the Vietnamese forces, totalling about 100,000 men, had advanced into Cambodia in several directions simultaneously, supported by about 20,000 United Front troops. One force had apparently driven through Ratanakiri along Highway 19 towards Stung Treng, although some sources suggested that Stung Treng had been taken by troops advancing south from Laos along Highway 13. Another force had driven north from the Snoul area to take Kratie, while a third advanced west from the same point towards Kompong Cham. In the south other troops had advanced towards Takeo and Kampot, in order to capture the port of Kompong Som and encircle Phnom-Penh in a pincer movement. About half the Cambodian Army, totalling about 50,000 men, was believed to have been concentrated in the salients known as the "Parrot's Beak" or Bec de Canard (in Svay Rieng province) and the "Fish Hook" or L 'Hamecon (in Kompong Cham province). The Vietnamese, however, attacked to the north and the south of the two salients, encircling the Cambodian forces, which were heavily bombed from the air. The Vietnamese forces advanced so rapidly that they had no time to occupy the territory which they had overrun, but left the administration of it to the United Front.
The encirclement of Phnom-Penh was virtually completed by Jan. 6, when it was reported that road and rail links between the capital and Kompong Som had been cut, and that Highway 5 (running north-west to Battambang and the Thai border) was the only road out of Phnom-Penh still uncut. The United Front announced on Jan. 7 that Phnom-Penh and Kompong Som had been occupied; that Kampot, Takeo, Prey Veng, Kompong Cham and Kandal provinces had been "completely liberated"; and that the revolutionary forces controlled "vast regions" of Kompong Thom, Preah Vihear, Siem Reap, Battambang, Koh Kong, Kompong Speu and Kompong Chhnang provinces. The Vietnamese and United Front forces apparently entered Phnom-Penh unopposed, the city having been evacuated by the Government and the garrison.
The United Front's broadcast of Jan. 7 suggested that only two of the 19 provinces-Oddor Meanchey in the north-west and Pursat in the west-were completely controlled by Mr Pol Pot's Government. A broadcast on the following day, however, stated that popular uprisings had occurred along the Mekong in Stung Treng, Kratie and Kompong Cham provinces, and that in western Svay Rieng more than 10,000 people were "helping the revolutionary combatants to encircle and attack the Phnom-Penh troops in the region", suggesting that resistance still continued in the eastern provinces.
A party of 686 foreign diplomats and military and civilian advisers evacuated from Phnom-Penh entered Thailand on Jan. 8. The party included 625 Chinese and 49 North Koreans.
This article comes from Keesings Worldwide Online
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