European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - January 6, 1989, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Qualified comeback for Cambodia United press International decade after Hanoi s troops deposed pol pot s bloody Khmer Rouge regime vietnamese soldiers Are finally withdrawing from Cambodia and leaving behind a burgeoning Economy that in Many ways is stronger than Vietnam s own. The phased troop withdrawal expected to be completed by the end of 1990, is a Case of political realities outweighing lingering Security concerns. But it leaves a political and military situation still unresolved. Once so stricken with famine that a massive International Aid Effort was mounted Cambodia now is producing better harvests sprucing up its shattered cities and strengthening its armed forces. But a three party resistance grouping headed by Prince Norodom Sihanouk continues to wage a debilitating guerrilla War against the vietnamese installed regime in phenom penh. Worse still the military Backbone of the resistance is the ousted but still feared Khmer Rouge whose 30,000 Battle hardened chinese armed guerrillas Are a constant reminder of the 1975-79 horrors under pol pot which resulted in the deaths of 1.5 million to 2 million cambodians. Hate in Cambodia for pol pot and the Khmer Rouge still runs like the Mekong River deep and wide and gushes Forth in conversations with cambodians from almost All walks of life. Most cambodians lost loved ones during pol pot s Rule and express thanks for the vietnamese intervention against the regime that emptied the cities routinely tortured and killed its enemies and confined nearly the entire population to brutal work Camps. The fatal mistake of the pol pot regime was attempting to spread its terror Over the vietnamese Border. Repeated clashes with the Khmer Rouge led to Vietnam s Blitzkrieg invasion that began on Christmas Day 1978. It captured the capital Jan. 7,1979. In the decade since Cambodia has gone from International Charity Case to economic stability if not Prosperity. Its cities Are alive once again. Gold rubies sapphires emeralds and Antiques Are cheap. But drinkable water is scarce. Huge soviet built trucks crammed with consumer goods from Singapore and Thailand unload on the streets of phenom penh where capitalism is tolerated on a Small scale but the state owns All Large enterprises. But economic disparity Between Urban and Rural cambodians a Factor that contributed to the initial Rise of the Khmer Rouge is again becoming a problem diplomats in the capital said. The country is still far from wealthy but the government s casual approach to socialism has allowed the private Enterprise Economy to grow More quickly than the bureaucracy burdened Economy of Vietnam. We Are helping Cambodia avoid the mistakes Vietnam made such As state salaries subsidies and land use policies said vietnamese ambassador Ngo Dien. Their Economy is better managed than Vietnam she admitted. The level of life in the cambodian Countryside is better than in Hanoi. Poor peasants Are better  Cambodia s battered infrastructure hinders Progress. Roads outside the capital Are heavily potholed and alternate quite suddenly Between Asphalt and dirt. Most Railroad lines Are running again. But As recently As dec. 15 the Khmer Rouge succeeded in blowing up tracks in the Northwestern province of Batta bang. Vietnamese troops gather for speech by Cambodia s defense minister prior to leaving Cambodia in december. A South China sea the presence of More than 100,000 vietnamese troops for the past 10 years has provided a Barrier behind which the phenom penh government has achieved slow but measurable economic Progress. Now however the vietnamese troops Are leaving under pressure by the International Community and concern Over the occupation s costs by its major ally the soviet Union. Vietnamese and cambodian officials say Only 50,000 vietnamese troops remain in the country. Western diplomats put the number higher but agree there have been major reductions. Hun sen the carefully tutored Young prime minister installed by Vietnam said his government now controls every Village in Cambodia at least during the Day. Resistance reports however claim regular attacks and political support from the people who oppose the country s traditional enemy Vietnam. Hun sen preaches National reconciliation and says the Khmer Rouge have a role in peace talks. But he is Adamant about denying them a place in a political solution. Prince Sihanouk the Likely figure to head a new cambodian government also is wary of the Khmer Rouge insisting they have not changed their brutal a cambodian cleans Skull near mass grave at a torture Camp run by the Khmer Rouge in the 1970s. Bones Are cleaned numbered and stacked with some specimens going to museums. Ways. But he says they must be part of the political settlement simply because their military might make them too dangerous to leave out. Cambodia s Progress appears to have bolstered Hun sen s position. With or without a political solution in 1990, the vietnamese army will be withdrawn he told foreign correspondents in december. The next two years would be a race against time for the cambodian regime to learn to stand without the vietnamese army to prop it up he said. When the Khmer Rouge ruled Cambodia in 1975 78, they attempted to create a new agrarian society with purges torture and mass relocation of people from the cities to Rural slave labor Camps. It destroyed religion culture and history to bring Cambodia Back to year Zero and held the people under the fearful grip of Bangka the organization. Vietnam s invasion in late 1978 drove the chinese armed Khmer Rouge to the thai cambodian Border where it set up base Camps. Tens of thousands of civilians under Khmer Rouge control were driven into Thailand by the vietnamese offensive of 1985. In the few Camps where Aid workers have Access the Khmer Rouge seems to have abandoned the mass killings. But it maintains its militaristic and xenophobic control Over virtually every aspect of people s lives. Marriage must be approved by Camp authorities. Religious practice is banned. Most men Wear chinese military uniforms. In some Camps people cannot walk outside their own Section. Western officials say the same brutal shadowy leaders of 1975-78 now run the refugee Camps pol pot Tamok son sen Leng sary and others. Friday january 1989 the stars and stripes Page 13