CAMBODIA: KING SIHANOUK'S REACTION TO DEATH OF POL POT

Описание: (17 Apr 1998) Eng/Khmer/Nat

King Norodom Sihanouk, once an ally and at times a prisoner of Pol Pot, on Friday called the Khmer Rouge leader's death a "relief" for the country.

Sihanouk was meeting foreign diplomats at his summer residence in Siem Reap.

U-S Ambassador to Cambodia Kenneth Quinn said the meeting was an opportunity to discuss the current situation.

Pol Pot died on Wednesday night of heart failure, while under house arrest by his own men.

Sihanouk was no stranger to Pol Pot's regime - during the Khmer Rouge rule he was their prisoner, and fourteen members of his family perished at their hands.

According to one historian the king himself might have perished too, had it not been for intervention by the late Chinese Premier Chou En-Lai who, who asked the Khmer Rouge not to send Sihanouk to a labour camp.

Others have said though, that Sihanouk bears some of the blame for the Khmer Rouge's rise to power.

After a clique of right-wing generals toppled Sihanouk in a coup in 1970, he endorsed Pol Pot's guerrilla war.

But once the guerrillas marched into Phnom Penh in 1975, the king was put under house arrest and members of his family were killed.

Sihanouk said Pol Pot's would bring peace in Cambodia.

SOUNDBITE: (Khmer)
"There is nothing I can say because it is a new year's day. (in English) I used to give the banquet in honour of the corps of diplomats. (back to Khmer) On this new year's day I have to meet with diplomats because they are here to wish me blessings. He (Pol Pot) is dead which means no more war in our country. There will be peace."
SUPER CAPTION: King Norodom Sihanouk

SOUNDBITE: (English)
"For the whole diplomatic corps to have a chance to hear his majesty, his views, and talk about the situation."
SUPER CAPTION: Kenneth Quinn, US Ambassador to Cambodia

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