Background:
Following a five-year struggle, Communist Khmer Rouge forces
captured Phnom Penh in 1975 and ordered the evacuation of all cities
and towns; over 1 million displaced people died from execution or
enforced hardships. A 1978 Vietnamese invasion drove the Khmer Rouge
into the countryside and touched off almost 20 years of fighting.
UN-sponsored elections in 1993 helped restore some semblance of
normalcy as did the rapid diminishment of the Khmer Rouge in the
mid-1990s. A coalition government, formed after national elections
in 1998, brought renewed political stability and the surrender of
remaining Khmer Rouge forces in 1998.