CAMBODIAN RESISTANCE GOES ON OFFENSIVE

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000807440002-0
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: January 3, 2012
• Sequence Number: 2
• Publication Date: August 8, 1985
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

STAT
`Declassified in Part -Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/03 :CIA-RDP90-009658000807440002-0
ARTICLE APP~~AAiRiED
ON PAGE rS_._
I~4eT t
LOS ANGELES TIMES
8 August 1985
Cambodian Resistance Goes on
Offensive
By xleK a wILLIAMS Jr., Ttmea s:an Writer
BANGKOK, Thailand-The
Cambodian resistance movement.
although troubled by division, has
stepped up its attacks against VieC~
namese troops deep ~ in Cambodia
during the last two months, ac-
to milituy and diplomatic
"They have become more of a
guen~ia force," a Western diplo-
matheresaid.
There was no alternative. Driven
from their base camps along the
Thai border by the Vietnamese
dry-Beason offensive last winter,
the Cambodian factions had to
carry their operations into the
interior in order to maintain credi-
bility.
Irate Brace re orts of Etuerrilla
atLaClCS beh n etnameae Ines
appear to ve been co a
radio broadcast last week b the
anon-mate a overnment m
om e e an ca i-
The broadcast said that civilians
in the Phnom Penh area are being
mobilized into "people's defense
forces" to help army regulars and
militia units with "patrol and guard
duties, particularly during the cur-
few hours, in the streets, along the
rivers and the major communica-
tions lines, and at entries and exits
of the city to contribute to the
safety of important party and
state"installations.
Prasong Soonsiri, head of the
Thai National Security Council,'
said Phnom Penh "and its vicinity =
are no longer safe."
No attacks have been .reported
inside the capital, but_ the Khmer
Rouge, one of the three guerrilla
factions, announced ~~ecently that
its forcea~ had killed five Vietnam-
ese soldiers in an attack July 30 on
the town of Vat Ang, 18 miles west
of Phnom Penh.
There was no confirmation but
Vietnamese a ico ter ns
eve sera re ore o era n
ama em a ou m ea
rom a cit , accor ' to Western
m race. nom en ut a out
~~ es rom a er.
e ~e amese orces m -
bodia, estimated at 160,000 or move
men, have put pressure on ;the
guerrillas with a series of sweeps
through their infiltration areas. In
late May and early June, the
search-and-destroy operations
were carried out in northwestern
Cambodia.
More recently, the diplomat said,
Vietnamese troops have been re-
ported sweeping areas farther
south, closer to the approaches .to
Phnom Penh. Large Vietnamese
units, up to 1,200 men, are involved,
he said.
The stepped-up guerrilla opera-
tions are continuing despite prob-
lems of coordination among the
three resistance factions.
The Khmer Rouge is the largest
and most active of these guerrilla
forces. A Communist movement, it
ruled Cambodia in brutal fashion
from Apri1,1975 to December, 1978,
when it was driven from power in
the Vietnamese invasion that in-
stalled the client regime of Heng
Samrin.
This year's fighting has led to
greater guerrilla activity by the
two non-Communist wings of the
resistance movement: the Khmer
People's National Liberation Front
of former Premier Son Sann and
the National Army of Sihanoukists,
led by Prince Norodom Sihanouk,
Cambodia's deposed head of state.
U.N. Reeo~nition
The three factions are nominally
combined as the Coalition Govern-
ment of Democratic Kampuchea,
another name for Cambodia. The
United Nations recognizes this
loose alliance as Cambodia's legiti-
mategovernment.
In past years, the non-Commu-
nist factions operated close to their
border bases. With all three fac-
tiow now pressing to carry the
fight to the interior, "we are itep-
Ping on eadh other's toes," Abdul
Gaffer Pei~g-Mew, a spokesman
for th! Khe~er Front, said recently.
The conflicts go beyond crowd-
ing. Last month, Prince Sihanouk,
who is president of the coalition,
threatened to pull out his faction
because of a reported clash be-
tween the Khmer Rouge and a
patrol of his guen~Was, in which
eight Sihanoukiata were killed.
A few days later his son, Prince
Norodom Ranariddh, also ex-
pressed discouragement over the
lack of coordination, and he called
on China, Thailand and other back-
ers of the coalition to force unity
among its factions. "If things don't
improve in two months or so, then I
will pack my bags," the young
prince said.
Crying Wolf
Sihanouk has threated to resign
as president of the coalition five
times since it was formed in 1982,
Declassified in Part -Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/03 :CIA-RDP90-009658000807440002-0
 Declassified in Part -Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/03 :CIA-RDP90-009658000807440002-0 _/~
and his outburst and his son's might
be discounted in that light, but the
problem of coordination runs deep.
As evidence:
-In late June, the Khmer Front
and the Sihanoukists agreed in
principle to set up a joint military
command, but the agreement has
not been carried out.
-Neither of the non-Communist
factions works well with the secre-
tive and independent Khmer
Rouge. The three forces have a
tripartite military committee de~-
ignated to resolve frictions, but it is
not a coordinated command.
The Khmer Rouge has about
35.000 guerrillas, against an eati-
mated 14,000 for the Khiper Front
and 8,000 for the Sl3ianoukiats,
according to Western intelligence.
The non-Communist factions say
that at least a third of their troops
are fighting in the interior, rotating
from small bases near the Thai
border.
The Vietnamese have deployed
seven or eight divisions in western
Cambodia to block infiltration, sup-
ported by two or three divisions
from the Phnom Penh regime. The
total force is 80,000 or more, all
within 30 miles of the Thai border.
The guerrillas must circumvent
a series of barriers-barbed wire,
trenches and mines-established
by dragooned civilian labor since
last winter's border fighting. De-
spite these obstacles and their
internal problems, the guerrillas
have been able to harass the Viet-
namese, ambushing patrols and
attacking militazy targets.
Ci,inese Support Firm
China has shown no sign of
reducing arms supplies for the
resistance, the Western diplomat
said. The guerrillas have enough
small arms that they have been
able to cache some- in the interior
for future forays, he reported.
The Vietnamese maintain secu-
rity in the cities of western Cambo-
dia. No major attacks have been
reported in Battambang or Siem
Reap, for instance. But for the
small farmer of the countryside,
life is lawless, and allegiance-if
any-is given to those with the
most guns.
"I don't trust anyone in Kampu-
chea," aKhmer Front guerrilla told
a French reporter recently. "In
each village, there is at least one
Heng Samrin agent."
He said that patrols from the
group rarely go into villages and
pay for food if they do, but that the
Khmer Rouge "start shooting to
scare off the villagers first and then
wait until the village is evacuated
so they can move in and collect
spare food stocks.'"
Military developments inside
Cambodia are "a confused picture,"
the Western diplomat said. Guer-
rilla claims, particulazly those of
the Khmer Rouge, are generally
considered exaggerated and cannot
be directly confirmed
However, the Vietnamese "are
no better off than leaf yeaz," he
said
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