The Resistance in Cambodia

Abstract

he role of the Resistance in Cambodia is determined by space and time, by national and international support. In time it goes back to the Vietminh struggle against the French in Indochina: the first resistance. In space it is largely determined by the configuration of the country; but it is not confined to Cambodia, because of the continuing involvement of other countries. Indeed, the indigenous elements of resistance depend (just as government forces do) ion external backing. It is important to distinguish the Cambodias: the heartland, where 90% of the seven million population live in under one-third of the country, and the empty lands of the North, Northeast and South, averaging only two to three inhabitants per square kilometer.' It is this extensive area of hills, mountains, savannah and forests-half of the country is forested and a third of this is dense jungle-that has ceased to be the preserve of the Phnom-Penh Government, even in name. It is now claimed by the forces of FUNK, Sihanouk's National United Front of Cambodia; but to speak of occupation of such large, trackless territories is misleading. The heartland, by contrast, centers round the Tonle Sap (Great Lake) roughly in the middle of the country. Altogether inhabited Cambodia extends from the fertile and relatively underpopulated province of Battambang on the Thai border, along a zone some 35 miles outward from the Great Lake, and ending with the more heavily populated old provinces around the capital. The latter area is triangular in shape. Its base follows the line of the South Vietnamese frontier from Kampot on the Gulf of Thailand inland to Krek, Mimot and Snoul, a region of once-thriving rubber plantations around the fish-hook. The apex of the triangle is the town of Kompong Chhnang, about 50 miles North of Phnom-Penh. But again it is misleading, in a fluctuating war of ambushes, sabotage and mortar attacks, to speak of occupation by the Phnom.Penh Government. Part of the heartland is contested, most of it is vulnerable to infiltration and surprise attacks,