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Cambodia
Index
In May 1955, the United States and Cambodia signed an agreement
providing for security assistance and for the establishment of a
thirty-person MAAG. During the next eight years, until the
assistance program was discontinued at Cambodian request in
November 1963, FARK received from the United States supplies and
equipment worth approximately US$83.7 million, in addition to
military budget support. In the meantime, the French also retained
a military training mission in Cambodia that was to remain until
1971. FARK traditions and doctrine remained French, and there was
some incompatibility with United States military doctrine and
outlook.
Although the United States undertook a substantial security-
assistance program in Cambodia, and the kingdom was included as a
"protocol state" in the Southeast Asia Treaty Organization (SEATO),
failure to obtain more concrete assurances of defense assistance
motivated Cambodia to adopt a neutralist foreign policy.
Subsequently adopted as law, this policy declared that Cambodia
would "abstain from military or ideological alliances" but would
retain the right to self-defense. Cambodia continued to be aware of
the serious threat to its independence posed by the Democratic
Republic of Vietnam (North Vietnam).
FARK's mission thus became a defensive one, that is, to insure
Cambodia's territorial integrity within the framework of
neutrality. The FARK high command remained fairly stable, staffed
by a limited number of well-trained personnel, many of whom had
been educated abroad. Ranking officers, however, became highly
politicized, if not subservient, because they were more or less
compelled by Sihanouk at his whim to perform active roles in
national political life. Throughout the years that followed the
Geneva Conference, Sihanouk, supreme commander of FARK, controlled
national policies affecting the military establishment, and FARK's
operational parameters were circumscribed by his frequent policy
vacillations. Because of this, FARK never developed as an effective
or viable military organization.
In addition to the Vietnamese threat, the Cambodian government
perceived a menace to internal stability from Son Ngoc Thanh's
resurgent antimonarchist Khmer Serei
(see Appendix B).
Although
contemporary observers suggested that the Khmer Serei seemed "to be
more of a nuisance . . . than a genuine threat," the group's
insurgent activities and subversive efforts were viewed with
increasing alarm by Phnom Penh. In March 1959, for example, the
provincial governor of Siemreab, General Dap Chhuon, a former Khmer
Issarak leader who once had fought alongside Sihanouk, was
implicated in an attempted Khmer Serei uprising (known at the time
as the Bangkok Plot) and was executed. Sihanouk believed the United
States had been behind the plot, and his proclivity for assuming
complicity between Washington and the Khmer Serei became a
particularly significant factor a few years later. In approximately
1965 to 1966, the United States Military Assistance Command--
Vietnam (MACV) began recruitment for the Studies and Operations
Group and civilian irregular defense groups of Khmer Krom
(see Appendix B) living in the
Mekong Delta, many of whom were Khmer Serei members. In his public
pronouncements regarding Khmer Serei
activity, Sihanouk charged that the group had originated in South
Vietnam and Thailand, and had the backing of both governments. Over
the years, there were countless Khmer Serei incidents, followed by
amnesties, surrenders, executions, and acrimonious Cambodian
charges against South Vietnam, Thailand, and the United States.
After Sihanouk was deposed in 1970, the Lon Nol government pardoned
some 500 political prisoners, the majority of whom were Khmer
Serei. Charges surfaced in 1987 that during his rule Sihanouk had
executed as many as 1,000 Khmer Serei suspects.
In the uneasy peace between the First Indochina War and the
Second Indochina War, a number of incidents occurred on Cambodia's
border with South Vietnam. In June 1958, two South Vietnamese
battalions briefly occupied a village in Stoeng Treng Province, and
Sihanouk appealed for United States intervention. Receiving no
response that satisfied him, Sihanouk established diplomatic
relations with China and announced that this action was a direct
consequence of South Vietnam's violation of Cambodian territory.
Cambodia was also not silent during the early stages of border
violations by North Vietnam. In 1959 Phnom Penh complained that
North Vietnamese regulars were using northeastern Cambodia to
infiltrate South Vietnam. Cambodia made concerted efforts to
demonstrate that it was policing its eastern borders, but, although
the incursions were publicly admitted, the existence of base areas
was not. By the mid-1960s, sites along Cambodia's eastern borders
were serving as bases for North Vietnamese and for South Vietnamese
communist, or Viet Cong
(see Appendix B) forces fighting
the South Vietnamese government. FARK, restrained by Sihanouk's policies,
which, in effect, constituted a modus vivendi with the intruders,
could do little more than monitor these activities. The
continuation of border incidents, and Sihanouk's repeated charges
of United States complicity with the Khmer Serei, led to a steady
deterioration in Cambodian-American relations.
In November 1963, after the clandestine Khmer Serei radio
resumed anti-Sihanouk broadcasts that the Cambodian government
alleged were beamed from Thailand and from South Vietnam with
transmitters supplied by the United States, Sihanouk terminated the
economic and security assistance agreements with Washington. He
also demanded the departure from Cambodia of all non-diplomatic
United States government personnel. The final rupture in diplomatic
relations came two years later, after Cambodia filed a complaint in
the UN Security Council against the United States and South Vietnam
for their "repeated acts of aggression against Cambodia." Relations
were formally terminated May 3, 1965.
Although still receiving French military assistance and
training (a program that was to continue until 1972), Cambodia
began soliciting and accepting military assistance from communist
countries as well, after the termination of United States aid. In
1963 FARK received four Soviet MiG aircraft at the beginning of a
program in which China also joined. The inevitable results of a
variety of suppliers were mixed equipment inventories.
In 1966 Sihanouk secretly granted access to the deep-water port
of Sihanoukville (later called Kampong Saom), in western Kampot
Province, to the North Vietnamese. With the complicity of ranking
FARK officers, Sihanoukville became a main entrepôt for North
Vietnamese military supplies from China and from the Soviet Union.
Armaments were then transported to North Vietnamese and Viet Cong
sanctuaries on the border with South Vietnam, ironically over the
"Friendship Highway" built with United States aid and sometimes in
FARK trucks supplied as part of the United States security-
assistance program. This effective supply route enabled the North
Vietnamese and the Viet Cong to stockpile substantial amounts of
armaments and equipment for the 1968 Tet Offensive against the
Saigon government. FARK profited from armaments pilfered from the
Vietnamese shipments, and suborned FARK officers derived personal
advantage from the Sihanoukville traffic through fees, bribes, and
other special arrangements.
In 1967 a peasant uprising broke out in the Samlot district of
Batdambang Province. Its significance was not appreciated
immediately. At the time, Sihanouk attributed the attacks, which
first occurred in about January, to "the Khmer Viet Minh"
(see Appendix B), whom he also
labeled "Khmer Rouge" (see
Appendix B) to
distinguish them from the "Khmer Bleu"
(see Appendix B). Sihanouk
vacillated in placing the blame for the unrest, however, and later
charged the "Thai patriotic front" with being its instigators.
Acting on his orders, FARK harshly suppressed the Batdambang
insurgents, who had acted spontaneously, and not at Khmer Rouge
direction. Although Sihanouk announced two months later that the
Batdambang rebellion was "completely at an end," there were
subsequent references to continuing Khmer Rouge activity in the
countryside.
The uprising convinced the Khmer communists (including a former
school teacher named Saloth Sar, later to emerge under the alias
Pol Pot) who earlier had gone underground, that the time was at
hand to escalate the armed struggle against the Phnom Penh
government. Shortly thereafter, the Revolutionary Army of Kampuchea
(RAK--see
Appendix B) came into being. The Khmer Rouge dated its
own founding from January 17, 1968. RAK leaders, including Pol Pot,
who had just returned from a prolonged visit to China, retreated to
the jungle and mountains of Rotanokiri Province (Ratanakiri) in
northeastern Cambodia. There they hoped to exploit the disaffection
of the Khmer Loeu
(see Appendix B) over the policies of
the Phnom Penh government concerning taxation, corvée labor, and the
resettlement of lowland Khmers in the Khmer Loeu areas. For the
next two and one-half years, the newly formed RAK remained small
(estimates varied from 400 to 2,000 personnel), and poorly equipped
with captured weapons. The Khmer Rouge found that, in spite of the
Samlot rebellion, discontent against the government in Phnom Penh
was then insufficient to attract large numbers of people to the
rigors of an armed insurgency. As for external support, there was
no move on the part of Hanoi to provide military assistance to the
Khmer Rouge because such action would have alienated Sihanouk's
government and would have imperiled continued North Vietnamese and
Viet Cong access to Cambodian territory as well as their use of the
port of Sihanoukville.
In 1969 the United States undertook the first of two bombing
campaigns against enemy targets in Cambodian territory. Code-named
the Menu series, these air operations consisted of tactical strikes
against North Vietnamese and Viet Cong base areas on the Cambodian-
Vietnamese border. They partially dislodged the North Vietnamese
and the Viet Cong and drove them more deeply into Cambodia in quest
of safer havens. This brought FARK elements into more frequent
hostile contact with the communists, and there were reports of FARK
forces' being involved in joint operations with South Vietnamese
forces against the North Vietnamese and the Viet Cong. Sihanouk
became increasingly distressed with these developments; his
attitude toward the communist Vietnamese changed, and authorization
for continued use of Sihanoukville was terminated. In April,
speaking in Rotanokiri Province, Sihanouk stated that "to deal with
the Viet Cong and Viet Minh," he had ordered General Lon Nol "to
give up the defensive spirit and adopt an offensive spirit."
Sihanouk announced during a press conference on June 11, 1969 that
" . . . at present there is war in Rotanokiri [province] between
Cambodia and Vietnam."
Sihanouk left Cambodia for medical treatment in France in
January 1970. Citing disagreement over economic and administrative
matters, after week-long anticommunist rioting in Phnom Penh, the
Cambodian National Assembly on March 18 passed a unanimous vote of
nonconfidence in Sihanouk and replaced him as chief of state
(see The March 1970 Coup d'Etat
, ch. 1). Although Sihanouk's deposition
was nominally a parliamentary action, the leaders of the
participants consisted primarily of FARK officers, headed by Lon
Nol, who had been the prime minister since the previous August (and
who, Sihanouk had once suggested, would be his likeliest
successor). The coup was bloodless, although FARK contingents were
on the alert in Phnom Penh and took control of key installations,
such as the airport and the radio station.
At the time Sihanouk was deposed, FARK, soon to be renamed the
Khmer National Armed Forces (Forces Armées Nationales Khmères--
FANK--see
Appendix B), had 35,000 to 40,000 personnel, organized
for the most part as ground forces. The Lon Nol government
repeatedly sought negotiations for a peaceful withdrawal of the
North Vietnamese and the Viet Cong forces from its territory. These
overtures were rejected, and in April the Vietnamese communists
began moving out of their sanctuaries and deeper into Cambodia, in
efforts to preserve their lines of communication and to maintain
the corridor to the port of Sihanoukville. President Richard M.
Nixon spoke on April 30, 1970 to the American nation, and said that
"thousands of their [North Vietnamese and Viet Cong] soldiers are
invading the country from the sanctuaries and they are encircling
the capital." Lon Nol, in the meantime, had called up military
reserves, had requested UN intervention, and, while reiterating
Cambodia's position of neutrality, had issued a call for
international assistance.
Between April 29 and May 1, 1970, South Vietnamese and United
States ground forces drove into Cambodia's border areas in a
determined bid to overrun and to destroy North Vietnamese and Viet
Cong logistical depots and sanctuaries. There also was hope at
United States MACV headquarters that the offensive would result in
the capture of the Central Office for South Vietnam, the Viet Cong
headquarters for directing the war against the Saigon government.
The operation resulted in the capture of vast quantities of enemy
matériel and it bought time for Washington and Saigon to proceed
with "Vietnamization," the process of turning over the conduct of
the war to the South Vietnamese government. For the shaky Lon Nol
government in Phnom Penh, however, the results of the incursion
were destabilizing and far-reaching. In retreating before United
States and South Vietnamese troops, North Vietnamese and Viet Cong
forces penetrated farther west into Cambodian territory,
overrunning government outposts as they went. Soon all of
northeastern Cambodia had fallen to the North Vietnamese or to the
Viet Cong, who then proceeded to turn the captured areas over to
the Khmer insurgents and to forge them into a full-fledged
revolutionary army.
To help hard-pressed FANK, Nixon laid down guidelines for
United States assistance to Cambodia, promising, among other
things, to turn over to the government in Phnom Penh equipment
captured during the incursion, and to "provide military
assistance...in the form of small arms and relatively
unsophisticated equipment in types and quantities suitable for
their army." Thus began a structured military assistance program,
supplementing the ad hoc support begun shortly before the
incursion, that was to total US$1.18 billion by the fall of the Lon
Nol government in April 1975. Although all United States troops
were withdrawn from Cambodian territory, South Vietnamese forces
were accorded "automatic authority" to operate in Cambodia in a
sixteen- kilometer corridor along the frontier.
The Lon Nol government very shortly afterwards declared martial
law and total mobilization, and it began expansion of its army.
United States government studies conducted shortly before
Sihanouk's deposition had expressed serious reservations about the
capabilities of the government forces, noting the "lack of combat
experience, equipment deficiencies, . . . . lack of mobility," and
citing "incompetent and corrupt officers" as the "greatest
shortcoming."
The same officers were, however, retained by FANK and their
inadequacy rapidly became apparent as military rosters were padded
with non-existent "phantom troops." United States advisers
attempting to keep track of FANK's development were constantly
hampered by the difficulty of accurately estimating the number of
Cambodian troops. (Accurate numbers were important because the
United States was then providing assistance for FANK's military pay
and allowances.) United States Senate staff investigators reported
that United States officials acknowledged in January 1972 that the
Khmer Republic's military strength figures were "grossly
exaggerated" by at least 10 percent. The Senate report concluded
there was "no greater mystery in Cambodia than the size of the
Cambodian Government's armed forces." In December 1972, the
information minister of the newly proclaimed Khmer Republic
announced that 100,000 troops were found to be "nonexistent."
According to the United States secretary of state's report to the
Congress for the years 1969 and 1970, FANK grew "from under 40,000
in March 1970 to some 200,000 in January 1971." In reality, FANK
levels probably never reached such a high number, and many of its
new soldiers were youthful and inexperienced.
Limited basic training of the inductees, some of it in Thailand
and in South Vietnam, began almost immediately after the
introduction of martial law. Such training, however, could not
satisfy FANK's pressing need to teach peasant farmers to man the
equipment provided by the United States, to fight effectively in
sizable units, and to comprehend modern military doctrine.
In spite of a steady infusion of United States security
assistance and the influx of new FANK personnel, the government
forces were unable to hold their own against their adversaries.
Because much of the country remained under North Vietnamese control
after the withdrawal of United States and South Vietnamese troops,
initial FANK strategy focused on holding the heartland of Cambodia
south of a line of demarcation dubbed the "Lon Nol Line." This
strategy conceded about half the country to the enemy, but it was
the heavily forested, sparsely populated, northern half. If the Lon
Nol Line could be held, the government would control the southern
half with most of the population and all of the rich, rice-growing
areas.
To defend this territory, FANK unleashed its two most ambitious
offensives: Chenla I, in August 1970, and Chenla II, in August
1971. Both had as their objectives the reopening of Route 6 to
Kampong Thum and the reassertion of government control over this
fertile agricultural area. Both operations failed. Chenla I stalled
short of its objective in the face of fierce resistance from the
North Vietnamese Ninth Division. FANK units were then withdrawn to
protect the capital from enemy commando teams. Chenla II was
successful in securing its initial goals, and FANK columns from
north and south met jubilantly on Route 6 along the way to Kampong
Thum. As the government forces celebrated, however, their old
nemesis, the North Vietnamese Ninth Division, tore into the
extended FANK lines with ferocity, slaughtering many of them and
leaving the rest cut off and compelled to fight their way back to
their own lines as best they could. Former FANK commander General
Sat Sutsakhan noted ruefully about Chenla II after the war that,
"In this operation FANK lost some of its best units of infantry as
well as a good part of its armor and a great deal of transport,
both military and civil."
The North Vietnamese, however, were neither the only, nor the
most determined adversary with whom FANK had to deal. A far more
lethal threat was soon posed by a revitalized Khmer Rouge-dominated
force that had evolved considerably since its days as the ragtag,
poorly armed band of irregulars known then as the RAK. The
development of the RAK had owed much to the opportunism of the
Khmer Rouge leaders, who had been able to transform a forlorn
communist insurgency with no chance of succeeding in the late
1960s, into a war of national liberation headed by the country's
most eminent nationalist, Sihanouk.
From Beijing, where he had been stranded by the coup that
deposed him, Sihanouk in 1970 announced the formation of a Royal
Government of National Union of Kampuchea (Gouvernement Royal
d'Union Nationale du Kampuchéa--GRUNK--see
Appendix B). This
government, he said, would be under the leadership of a broad
umbrella organization, the National United Front of Kampuchea
(Front Uni National du Kampuchéa--FUNK--see
Appendix B). The
prestige of Sihanouk's name thus helped the Khmer Rouge in their
recruitment effort. Rural peasant volunteers believed they were
joining a broad-based national resistance movement, headed by the
prince, against an ineffectual puppet regime in Phnom Penh. Several
groups also rallied to the broad appeal of the GRUNK/FUNK. Such
groups included the pro-Sihanouk Khmer Rumdo
(see Appendix B), the Khmer
Viet Minh, and the Khmer Loeu.
To accommodate the disparate elements that were rallying to the
resistance cause, the RAK was renamed the Cambodian People's
National Liberation Armed Forces (CPNLAF--see
Appendix B). As this
force grew in size and in proficiency, it was able to relieve North
Vietnamese units of their combat burden in Cambodia. By 1973 there
were reportedly no more than 5,000 North Vietnamese combat troops
in Cambodia, and of this number only 2,000 to 3,000 were deployed
against FANK units.
After the Chenla campaigns, FANK was unable to regain the
offensive, and its operations became a series of hard-fought
defensive actions against an enemy whose momentum could not be
stayed. Individual unit valor and fleeting tactical successes did
little to relieve the unbroken string of FANK setbacks--overrun
outposts, annihilated battalions, cut-off columns, plummeting
morale, exhausted supplies, steadily shrinking government
territory, and enemy units that were drawing ever closer around
Phnom Penh. A harbinger of future trends was discernible as early
as November 1972, two-and-one-half years before the final defeat.
FANK strategists at that time acknowledged the waning capability of
their armed forces and redrew the Lon Nol Line. The new line of
demarcation signified a profound strategic realignment because it
conceded most of the country, including the rich rice-growing areas
around the Tonle Sap, to the enemy. In accordance with the redrawn
Lon Nol line, FANK was committed to defend no more than the
triangular corner of southeastern Cambodia, which held a majority
of the population and was bounded generally by Route 4 from Phnom
Penh to Kampong Saom on the west, and by Route 1 from Phnom Penh to
the Vietnamese border on the east. The apex of the triangle passed
just north of Odongk, the former royal capital that was to be the
scene of heavy fighting later in the war. Even this retrenchment,
however, turned out to be impractical, as successive engagements
failed to dislodge the enemy troops south of the new defense line,
and FANK increasingly found itself hard pressed from that direction
as well.
By 1973 United States Department of State sources, possibly
underestimating, noted that the Khmer Rouge-dominated CPNLAF
controlled about 60 percent of Cambodia's territory and 25 percent
of the population. Despite a sustained United States bombing
campaign that year to blunt the steady advance of the CPNLAF and to
relieve pressure on FANK, the Khmer Rouge insurgent forces were
able to absorb their losses, to maintain the initiative, and to
subject an increasingly demoralized and cornered FANK to
unremitting pressure.
The denouement for FANK and for the Khmer Republic began on New
Year's Day 1975 when the CPNLAF unleashed its final offensive. As
winter turned into spring, the enemy battered the defenses of Phnom
Penh from every direction. Routes into the city were cut, reopened,
and cut again; river convoys were forced to run a gauntlet of
hostile fire to reach the beleaguered capital and finally could no
longer break through; United States aircraft, in a forlorn attempt
to maintain a lifeline into the city, set up an airlift from bases
in Thailand. The effort worked briefly, until the airport itself
was interdicted by hostile rocket fire. By early April, Phnom Penh
was surrounded on all sides, and its defenses were crumbling. FANK
attempts to break out of the encircled city stalled in the face of
intense Khmer Rouge firepower. Government units were decimated,
exhausted, and out of supplies; finally, they were unable to hold
out any longer. The fall of the capital on April 17, marked the
demise of the Khmer Republic and the total defeat of FANK, which in
the end had been totally outclassed and outfought, not by an army
of guerrillas--that phenomenon so intensively studied during the
period, but by a tough, disciplined, regular force in a
conventional war of movement, by fire and by maneuver.
Data as of December 1987
- Cambodia-Illicit Trade with Thailand and with Singapore
- Cambodia-THE KAMPUCHEAN (OR KHMER) UNITED FRONT FOR NATIONAL CONSTRUCTION AND DEFENSE
- Cambodia-Politics under the Khmer Rouge
- Cambodia-Chapter 1 - Historical Setting
- Cambodia-Airports
- Cambodia-First Plan, 1986-90
- Cambodia-Vietnamese Aid
- Cambodia-The Economy
- Cambodia-Local People's Revolutionary Committees
- Cambodia-Austronesian
- Cambodia-The March 1970 Coup d'Etat
- Cambodia-The Constitution
- Cambodia-Fisheries
- Cambodia-Water Transportation Railroads
- Cambodia-The Khmer People's National Liberation Front
- Cambodia-The Economy under the Khmer Rouge, 1975-79
- Cambodia-Handicrafts
- Cambodia-SOCIAL STRUCTURE AND ORGANIZATION
- Cambodia-Establishing Democratic Kampuchea
- Cambodia-Taxes
- Cambodia-Intraparty Conflict
- Cambodia-ECONOMIC SETTING
- Cambodia-CAMBODIA UNDER SIHANOUK, 1954-70
- Cambodia-INDUSTRY
- Cambodia-Other Religions
- Cambodia-Khmer People's National Liberation Armed Forces
- Cambodia-The Fall of Phnom Penh
- Cambodia-Petroleum
- Cambodia-HEALTH AND WELFARE
- Cambodia-East Germany
- Cambodia-The Successor State of Chenla
- Cambodia-People's Security Service LAW ENFORCEMENT AND COUNTERSUBVERSION
- Cambodia-Conditions of Service
- Cambodia-Livestock
- Cambodia-PREFACE
- Cambodia-THE ANGKORIAN PERIOD
- Cambodia-GEOGRAPHY
- Cambodia-Natural Resources
- Cambodia-THE MEDIA
- Cambodia-The Second Indochina War, 1954-75
- Cambodia-Democratic Kampuchea
- Cambodia-Composition and Deployment
- Cambodia-FOREIGN AFFAIRS
- Cambodia-CAMBODIA
- Cambodia-Origins of the Coalition
- Cambodia-HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
- Cambodia-The French Protectorate
- Cambodia-ECONOMY
- Cambodia-Distribution Dynamics
- Cambodia-Revolutionary Terror
- Cambodia-Soviet Aid
- Cambodia-Sihanouk's Peacetime Economy, 1953-70
- Cambodia-Public Health
- Cambodia-Foreign Economic and Technical Assistance
- Cambodia-The Geneva Conference
- Cambodia-Protection under the Law
- Cambodia-ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
- Cambodia-Coalition Government Resistance Forces
- Cambodia-Origins of Buddhism on the Indian Subcontinent
- Cambodia-The Japanese Occupation, 1941-45
- Cambodia-Social Stratification and Social Mobility
- Cambodia-Other Groups
- Cambodia-DOMESTIC COMMERCE
- Cambodia-Public School System
- Cambodia -COUNTRY PROFILE
- Cambodia-The Time of Greatness, A.D - 802-1431
- Cambodia-From "Proximity Talks" to a "Cocktail Party"
- Cambodia-Early Indianized Kingdom of Funan
- Cambodia-The Purge
- Cambodia-PREHISTORY AND EARLY KINGDOMS
- Cambodia-National United Front for an Independent, Peaceful, Neutral, and Cooperative Cambodia
- Cambodia-Soviet Union
- Cambodia-The KPRP Second Congress
- Cambodia-The First Indochina War, 1945-54
- Cambodia-The Council of Ministers
- Cambodia-INTO THE MAELSTROM: INSURRECTION AND WAR, 1967-75
- Cambodia-Vietnam
- Cambodia-Welfare Programs
- Cambodia-The Council of State
- Cambodia-Collectivization and Solidarity Groups
- Cambodia-Early Khmer Rouge Atrocities
- Cambodia-Hydroelectric Power
- Cambodia-Period of Decline, 1431-1863
- Cambodia-Private Education
- Cambodia-Poland
- Cambodia-The Chinese
- Cambodia-Composition of Trade
- Cambodia-THE KAMPUCHEAN, (OR KHMER) PEOPLE'S REVOLUTIONARY PARTY
- Cambodia-MILITARY DEVELOPMENTS IN POSTWAR CAMBODIA
- Cambodia-THE PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF KAMPUCHEA
- Cambodia-The Colonial Economy
- Cambodia-The Khmer
- Cambodia-FOREIGN TRADE AND AID
- Cambodia-Drainage
- Cambodia-AGRICULTURE
- Cambodia-Other Food and Commercial Crops
- Cambodia-Migration and Refugees
- Cambodia-Major Manufacturing Industries
- Cambodia-DEMOCRATIC KAMPUCHEA, 1975-78
- Cambodia-Domestic Developments
- Cambodia-Cambodian Adaptations
- Cambodia-Role of Buddhism in Cambodian Life
- Cambodia-The Coalition's Strategy
- Cambodia-Regional Divisions
- Cambodia-Chapter 2 - The Society and Its Environment
- Cambodia-Foreign Troops and Advisers
- Cambodia-Austroasiatic-Mon-Khmer LANGUAGES
- Cambodia-Vietnamese Invasion of Cambodia
- Cambodia-New Economic Policy and System
- Cambodia-THE FRENCH COLONIAL PERIOD, 1887-1953
- Cambodia-Housing
- Cambodia-The Vietnamese
- Cambodia-Roads and Highways
- Cambodia-The Widening War
- Cambodia-Ports
- Cambodia-Chapter 4 - Government and Politics
- Cambodia-The French Protectorate, 1863-1954
- Cambodia-National Army of Democratic Kampuchea
- Cambodia-Coalition Structure
- Cambodia-Major Trading Partners
- Cambodia-Penal System
- Cambodia-Dress
- Cambodia-TRANSPORTATION AND COMMUNICATIONS
- Cambodia-Chinese Religion
- Cambodia-NATIONAL SECURITY
- Cambodia-Buddhism RELIGION
- Cambodia
- Cambodia-The Emergence of Nationalism
- Cambodia-Armée Nationale Sihanoukiste
- Cambodia-ECONOMIC ROLE OF THE KAMPUCHEAN PEOPLE'S REVOLUTIONARY PARTY
- Cambodia-The Search for Peace
- Cambodia-Other Ethnic Groups
- Cambodia-The Wartime Economy, 1970-75
- Cambodia-Climate
- Cambodia
- Cambodia-Threats and Capabilities
- Cambodia
- Cambodia-ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENTS AFTER INDEPENDENCE
- Cambodia-Chapter 5 - National Security
- Cambodia-Government Structure
- Cambodia-Khmer Rouge Armed Forces MILITARY DEVELOPMENTS UNDER THE KHMER ROUGE
- Cambodia-POPULATION
- Cambodia-Topography
- Cambodia-The Judiciary
- Cambodia-Islam
- Cambodia-International and Western Aid
- Cambodia-EDUCATION
- Cambodia
- Cambodia-Diet
- Cambodia
- Cambodia-GOVERNMENT AND POLITICS
- Cambodia-The Cambodian Left: The Early Phases
- Cambodia-CAMBODIA'S STRUGGLE FOR SURVIVAL, 1432-1887
- Cambodia-Foreword
- Cambodia-Cambodia in Turmoil
- Cambodia-Domination by Thailand and by Vietnam
- Cambodia-TRANSPORTATION AND COMMUNICATIONS
- Cambodia-Background MAJOR POLITICAL DEVELOPMENTS, 1977-81
- Cambodia-FINANCE
- Cambodia-Religious and Minority Communities
- Cambodia-The Paris Student Group
- Cambodia
- Cambodia-Mission and Doctrine
- Cambodia-Nonaligned Foreign Policy
- Cambodia-Phnom Penh and Its Allies
- Cambodia
- Cambodia-Organization and Control
- Cambodia-Chapter 3 - The Economy
- Cambodia-COALITION GOVERNMENT OF DEMOCRATIC KAMPUCHEA
- Cambodia-Labor Force
- Cambodia-Buddhist Education
- Cambodia
- Cambodia-Rice Production and Cultivation
- Cambodia-Currency Banking
- Cambodia-Society under the Angkar
- Cambodia
- Cambodia-Tenuous Security
- Cambodia-ENVIRONMENT
- Cambodia-Education and Health
- Cambodia-INTRODUCTION
- Cambodia
Background | | Most Cambodians consider themselves to be Khmers, descendants of the Angkor Empire that extended over much of Southeast Asia and reached its zenith between the 10th and 13th centuries. Attacks by the Thai and Cham (from present-day Vietnam) weakened the empire, ushering in a long period of decline. The king placed the country under French protection in 1863 and it became part of French Indochina in 1887. Following Japanese occupation in World War II, Cambodia gained full independence from France in 1953. In April 1975, after a five-year struggle, Communist Khmer Rouge forces captured Phnom Penh and evacuated all cities and towns. At least 1.5 million Cambodians died from execution, forced hardships, or starvation during the Khmer Rouge regime under POL POT. A December 1978 Vietnamese invasion drove the Khmer Rouge into the countryside, began a 10-year Vietnamese occupation, and touched off almost 13 years of civil war. The 1991 Paris Peace Accords mandated democratic elections and a ceasefire, which was not fully respected by the Khmer Rouge. UN-sponsored elections in 1993 helped restore some semblance of normalcy under a coalition government. Factional fighting in 1997 ended the first coalition government, but a second round of national elections in 1998 led to the formation of another coalition government and renewed political stability. The remaining elements of the Khmer Rouge surrendered in early 1999. Some of the surviving Khmer Rouge leaders are awaiting trial by a UN-sponsored tribunal for crimes against humanity. Elections in July 2003 were relatively peaceful, but it took one year of negotiations between contending political parties before a coalition government was formed. In October 2004, King Norodom SIHANOUK abdicated the throne and his son, Prince Norodom SIHAMONI, was selected to succeed him. Local elections were held in Cambodia in April 2007, and there was little in the way of pre-election violence that preceded prior elections. National elections in July 2008 were relatively peaceful.
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Location | | Southeastern Asia, bordering the Gulf of Thailand, between Thailand, Vietnam, and Laos
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Area(sq km) | | total: 181,035 sq km land: 176,515 sq km water: 4,520 sq km
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Geographic coordinates | | 13 00 N, 105 00 E
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Land boundaries(km) | | total: 2,572 km border countries: Laos 541 km, Thailand 803 km, Vietnam 1,228 km
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Coastline(km) | | 443 km
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Climate | | tropical; rainy, monsoon season (May to November); dry season (December to April); little seasonal temperature variation
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Elevation extremes(m) | | lowest point: Gulf of Thailand 0 m highest point: Phnum Aoral 1,810 m
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Natural resources | | oil and gas, timber, gemstones, iron ore, manganese, phosphates, hydropower potential
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Land use(%) | | arable land: 20.44% permanent crops: 0.59% other: 78.97% (2005)
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Irrigated land(sq km) | | 2,700 sq km (2003)
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Total renewable water resources(cu km) | | 476.1 cu km (1999)
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Freshwater withdrawal (domestic/industrial/agricultural) | | total: 4.08 cu km/yr (1%/0%/98%) per capita: 290 cu m/yr (2000)
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Natural hazards | | monsoonal rains (June to November); flooding; occasional droughts
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Environment - current issues | | illegal logging activities throughout the country and strip mining for gems in the western region along the border with Thailand have resulted in habitat loss and declining biodiversity (in particular, destruction of mangrove swamps threatens natural fisheries); soil erosion; in rural areas, most of the population does not have access to potable water; declining fish stocks because of illegal fishing and overfishing
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Environment - international agreements | | party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Desertification, Endangered Species, Hazardous Wastes, Marine Life Conservation, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Tropical Timber 94, Wetlands, Whaling signed, but not ratified: Law of the Sea
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Geography - note | | a land of paddies and forests dominated by the Mekong River and Tonle Sap
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Population | | 14,494,293 note: estimates for this country take into account the effects of excess mortality due to AIDS; this can result in lower life expectancy, higher infant mortality, higher death rates, lower population growth rates, and changes in the distribution of population by age and sex than would otherwise be expected (July 2009 est.)
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Age structure(%) | | 0-14 years: 32.6% (male 2,388,922/female 2,336,439) 15-64 years: 63.8% (male 4,498,568/female 4,743,677) 65 years and over: 3.6% (male 197,649/female 329,038) (2009 est.)
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Median age(years) | | total: 22.1 years male: 21.4 years female: 22.8 years (2009 est.)
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Population growth rate(%) | | 1.765% (2009 est.)
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Birth rate(births/1,000 population) | | 25.73 births/1,000 population (2009 est.)
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Death rate(deaths/1,000 population) | | 8.08 deaths/1,000 population (July 2009 est.)
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Net migration rate(migrant(s)/1,000 population) | | NA
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Urbanization(%) | | urban population: 22% of total population (2008) rate of urbanization: 4.6% annual rate of change (2005-10 est.)
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Sex ratio(male(s)/female) | | at birth: 1.04 male(s)/female under 15 years: 1.02 male(s)/female 15-64 years: 0.95 male(s)/female 65 years and over: 0.6 male(s)/female total population: 0.96 male(s)/female (2009 est.)
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Infant mortality rate(deaths/1,000 live births) | | total: 54.79 deaths/1,000 live births male: 61.84 deaths/1,000 live births female: 47.42 deaths/1,000 live births (2009 est.)
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Life expectancy at birth(years) | | total population: 62.1 years male: 60.03 years female: 64.27 years (2009 est.)
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Total fertility rate(children born/woman) | | 3.04 children born/woman (2009 est.)
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Nationality | | noun: Cambodian(s) adjective: Cambodian
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Ethnic groups(%) | | Khmer 90%, Vietnamese 5%, Chinese 1%, other 4%
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Religions(%) | | Buddhist 96.4%, Muslim 2.1%, other 1.3%, unspecified 0.2% (1998 census)
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Languages(%) | | Khmer (official) 95%, French, English
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Country name | | conventional long form: Kingdom of Cambodia conventional short form: Cambodia local long form: Preahreacheanachakr Kampuchea (phonetic pronunciation) local short form: Kampuchea former: Khmer Republic, Democratic Kampuchea, People's Republic of Kampuchea, State of Cambodia
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Government type | | multiparty democracy under a constitutional monarchy
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Capital | | name: Phnom Penh geographic coordinates: 11 33 N, 104 55 E time difference: UTC+7 (12 hours ahead of Washington, DC during Standard Time)
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Administrative divisions | | 23 provinces (khett, singular and plural) and 1 municipality (krong, singular and plural) provinces: Banteay Mean Cheay, Batdambang, Kampong Cham, Kampong Chhnang, Kampong Spoe, Kampong Thum, Kampot, Kandal, Kaoh Kong, Keb, Krachen, Mondol Kiri, Otdar Mean Cheay, Pailin, Pouthisat, Preah Seihanu (Sihanoukville), Preah Vihear, Prey Veng, Rotanah Kiri, Siem Reab, Stoeng Treng, Svay Rieng, Takev municipalities: Phnum Penh (Phnom Penh)
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Constitution | | promulgated 21 September 1993
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Legal system | | primarily a civil law mixture of French-influenced codes from the United Nations Transitional Authority in Cambodia (UNTAC) period, royal decrees, and acts of the legislature, with influences of customary law and remnants of communist legal theory; increasing influence of common law; accepts compulsory ICJ jurisdiction with reservations
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Suffrage | | 18 years of age; universal
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Executive branch | | chief of state: King Norodom SIHAMONI (since 29 October 2004) head of government: Prime Minister HUN SEN (since 14 January 1985) [co-prime minister from 1993 to 1997]; Permanent Deputy Prime Minister MEN SAM AN (since 25 September 2008); Deputy Prime Ministers SAR KHENG (since 3 February 1992); SOK AN, TEA BANH, HOR NAMHONG, NHEK BUNCHHAY (since 16 July 2004); BIN CHHIN (since 5 September 2007); KEAT CHHON, YIM CHHAI LY (since 24 September 2008); KE KIMYAN (since 12 March 2009) cabinet: Council of Ministers named by the prime minister and appointed by the monarch elections: the king is chosen by a Royal Throne Council from among all eligible males of royal descent; following legislative elections, a member of the majority party or majority coalition is named prime minister by the Chairman of the National Assembly and appointed by the king
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Legislative branch | | bicameral, consists of the Senate (61 seats; 2 members appointed by the monarch, 2 elected by the National Assembly, and 57 elected by parliamentarians and commune councils; members serve five-year terms) and the National Assembly (123 seats; members elected by popular vote to serve five-year terms) elections: Senate - last held 22 January 2006 (next to be held in January 2011); National Assembly - last held 27 July 2008 (next to be held in July 2013) election results: Senate - percent of vote by party - CPP 69%, FUNCINPEC 21%, SRP 10%; seats by party - CPP 45, FUNCINPEC 10, SRP 2; National Assembly - percent of vote by party - CPP 58%, SRP 22%, HRP 7%; NRP 6%; FUNCINPEC 5%; others 2%; seats by party - CPP 90, SRP 26, HRP 3, FUNCINPEC 2, NRP 2
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Judicial branch | | Supreme Council of the Magistracy (provided for in the constitution and formed in December 1997); Supreme Court (and lower courts) exercises judicial authority
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Political pressure groups and leaders | | Cambodian Freedom Fighters or CFF; Partnership for Transparency Fund or PTF (anti-corruption organization); Students Movement for Democracy; The Committee for Free and Fair Elections or Comfrel other: human rights organizations; vendors
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International organization participation | | ACCT, ADB, APT, ARF, ASEAN, EAS, FAO, G-77, IBRD, ICAO, ICCt, ICRM, IDA, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, ILO, IMF, IMO, Interpol, IOC, IOM, IPU, ISO (subscriber), ITU, MIGA, NAM, OIF, OPCW, PCA, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNIDO, UNMIS, UNWTO, UPU, WCO, WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WTO
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Flag description | | three horizontal bands of blue (top), red (double width), and blue with a white three-towered temple representing Angkor Wat outlined in black in the center of the red band note: only national flag to incorporate an actual building in its design
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Economy - overview | | From 2004 to 2007, the economy grew about 10% per year, driven largely by an expansion in the garment sector, construction, agriculture, and tourism. Growth dropped to below 7% in 2008 as a result of the global economic slowdown. With the January 2005 expiration of a WTO Agreement on Textiles and Clothing, Cambodian textile producers were forced to compete directly with lower-priced countries such as China, India, Vietnam, and Bangladesh. The garment industry currently employs more than 320,000 people and contributes more than 85% of Cambodia's exports. In 2005, exploitable oil deposits were found beneath Cambodia's territorial waters, representing a new revenue stream for the government if commercial extraction begins. Mining also is attracting significant investor interest, particularly in the northern parts of the country. The government has said opportunities exist for mining bauxite, gold, iron and gems. In 2006, a US-Cambodia bilateral Trade and Investment Framework Agreement (TIFA) was signed, and several rounds of discussions have been held since 2007. The tourism industry has continued to grow rapidly, with foreign arrivals exceeding 2 million per year in 2007-08, however, economic troubles abroad will dampen growth in 2009. Rubber exports declined more than 15% in 2008 due to falling world market prices. The global financial crisis is weakening demand for Cambodian exports, and construction is declining due to a shortage of credit. The long-term development of the economy remains a daunting challenge. The Cambodian government is working with bilateral and multilateral donors, including the World Bank and IMF, to address the country's many pressing needs. The major economic challenge for Cambodia over the next decade will be fashioning an economic environment in which the private sector can create enough jobs to handle Cambodia's demographic imbalance. More than 50% of the population is less than 21 years old. The population lacks education and productive skills, particularly in the poverty-ridden countryside, which suffers from an almost total lack of basic infrastructure.
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GDP (purchasing power parity) | | $28.01 billion (2008 est.) $26.67 billion (2007 est.) $24.2 billion (2006 est.) note: data are in 2008 US dollars
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GDP (official exchange rate) | | $11.25 billion (2008 est.)
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GDP - real growth rate(%) | | 5% (2008 est.) 10.2% (2007 est.) 10.8% (2006 est.)
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GDP - per capita (PPP) | | $2,000 (2008 est.) $1,900 (2007 est.) $1,800 (2006 est.) note: data are in 2008 US dollars
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GDP - composition by sector(%) | | agriculture: 29% industry: 30% services: 41% (2007 est.)
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Labor force | | 8.6 million (2008 est.)
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Labor force - by occupation(%) | | agriculture: 75% industry: NA% services: NA% (2004 est.)
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Unemployment rate(%) | | 3.5% (2007 est.) 2.5% (2000 est.)
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Population below poverty line(%) | | 35% (2004)
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Household income or consumption by percentage share(%) | | lowest 10%: 3% highest 10%: 34.2% (2007)
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Distribution of family income - Gini index | | 43 (2007 est.) 40 (2004 est.)
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Investment (gross fixed)(% of GDP) | | 22.4% of GDP (2008 est.)
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Budget | | revenues: $1.274 billion expenditures: $1.592 billion (2008 est.)
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Inflation rate (consumer prices)(%) | | 25% (2008 est.) 5.9% (2007 est.)
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Stock of money | | $591.7 million (31 December 2008) $513.6 million (31 December 2007)
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Stock of quasi money | | $2.328 billion (31 December 2008) $2.309 billion (31 December 2007)
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Stock of domestic credit | | $1.67 billion (31 December 2008) $1.131 billion (31 December 2007)
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Market value of publicly traded shares | | $NA
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Economic aid - recipient | | $698.2 million pledged in grants and concession loans for 2007 by international donors (2007)
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Agriculture - products | | rice, rubber, corn, vegetables, cashews, tapioca, silk
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Industries | | tourism, garments, construction, rice milling, fishing, wood and wood products, rubber, cement, gem mining, textiles
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Industrial production growth rate(%) | | 8% (2008 est.)
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Current account balance | | -$1.06 billion (2008 est.) -$506.3 million (2007 est.)
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Exports | | $4.708 billion (2008 est.) $4.089 billion (2007 est.)
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Exports - commodities(%) | | clothing, timber, rubber, rice, fish, tobacco, footwear
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Exports - partners(%) | | US 54.4%, Germany 7.7%, Canada 5.9%, UK 5.5%, Vietnam 4.5% (2008)
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Imports | | $6.534 billion (2008 est.) $5.424 billion (2007 est.)
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Imports - commodities(%) | | petroleum products, cigarettes, gold, construction materials, machinery, motor vehicles, pharmaceutical products
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Imports - partners(%) | | Thailand 26.8%, Vietnam 19%, China 14.5%, Hong Kong 8.1%, Singapore 6.9% (2008)
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Reserves of foreign exchange and gold | | $2.641 billion (31 December 2008 est.) $2.143 billion (31 December 2007 est.)
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Debt - external | | $4.127 billion (31 December 2008 est.) $3.89 billion (31 December 2007 est.)
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Exchange rates | | riels (KHR) per US dollar - 4,070.94 (2008 est.), 4,006 (2007), 4,103 (2006), 4,092.5 (2005), 4,016.25 (2004)
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Currency (code) | | riel (KHR)
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Telephones - main lines in use | | 45,100 (2008)
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Telephones - mobile cellular | | 4.237 million (2008)
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Telephone system | | general assessment: mobile-phone systems are widely used in urban areas to bypass deficiencies in the fixed-line network; fixed-line connections stand at well less than 1 per 100 persons; mobile-cellular usage, aided by increasing competition among service providers, is increasing and stands at 30 per 100 persons domestic: adequate landline and/or cellular service in Phnom Penh and other provincial cities; mobile-phone coverage is rapidly expanding in rural areas international: country code - 855; adequate but expensive landline and cellular service available to all countries from Phnom Penh and major provincial cities; satellite earth station - 1 Intersputnik (Indian Ocean region) (2008)
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Internet country code | | .kh
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Internet users | | 74,000 (2008)
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Airports | | 17 (2009)
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Roadways(km) | | total: 38,093 km paved: 2,977 km unpaved: 35,116 km (2007)
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Ports and terminals | | Phnom Penh, Kampong Saom (Sihanoukville)
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Military branches | | Royal Cambodian Armed Forces: Royal Cambodian Army, Royal Khmer Navy, Royal Cambodian Air Force (2009)
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Military service age and obligation(years of age) | | conscription law of October 2006 requires all males between 18-30 to register for military service; 18-month service obligation (2006)
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Manpower available for military service | | males age 16-49: 3,759,034 females age 16-49: 3,784,333 (2008 est.)
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Manpower fit for military service | | males age 16-49: 2,673,383 females age 16-49: 2,763,256 (2009 est.)
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Manpower reaching militarily significant age annually | | male: 177,881 female: 175,332 (2009 est.)
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Military expenditures(% of GDP) | | 3% of GDP (2005 est.)
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Disputes - international | | Cambodia and Thailand dispute sections of boundary with missing boundary markers and claims of Thai encroachments into Cambodian territory; maritime boundary with Vietnam is hampered by unresolved dispute over sovereignty of offshore islands; Thailand accuses Cambodia of obstructing inclusion of Thai areas near Preah Vihear temple ruins, awarded to Cambodia by ICJ decision in 1962, as part of a planned UN World Heritage site
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Electricity - production(kWh) | | 1.273 billion kWh (2007 est.)
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Electricity - production by source(%) | | fossil fuel: 65% hydro: 35% nuclear: 0% other: 0% (2001)
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Electricity - consumption(kWh) | | 1.272 billion kWh (2007 est.)
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Electricity - exports(kWh) | | 0 kWh (2008 est.)
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Electricity - imports(kWh) | | 167 million kWh (2007 est.)
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Oil - production(bbl/day) | | 0 bbl/day (2008 est.)
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Oil - consumption(bbl/day) | | 4,000 bbl/day (2008 est.)
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Oil - exports(bbl/day) | | 0 bbl/day (2007 est.)
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Oil - imports(bbl/day) | | 30,970 bbl/day (2007 est.)
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Oil - proved reserves(bbl) | | 0 bbl (1 January 2009 est.)
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Natural gas - production(cu m) | | 0 cu m (2008 est.)
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Natural gas - consumption(cu m) | | 0 cu m (2008 est.)
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Natural gas - exports(cu m) | | 0 cu m (2008)
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Natural gas - proved reserves(cu m) | | 0 cu m (1 January 2009 est.)
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HIV/AIDS - adult prevalence rate(%) | | 0.8% (2007 est.)
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HIV/AIDS - people living with HIV/AIDS | | 75,000 (2007 est.)
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HIV/AIDS - deaths | | 6,900 (2007 est.)
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Major infectious diseases | | degree of risk: very high food or waterborne diseases: bacterial and protozoal diarrhea, hepatitis A, and typhoid fever vectorborne diseases: dengue fever, Japanese encephalitis, and malaria note: highly pathogenic H5N1 avian influenza has been identified in this country; it poses a negligible risk with extremely rare cases possible among US citizens who have close contact with birds (2009)
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Literacy(%) | | definition: age 15 and over can read and write total population: 73.6% male: 84.7% female: 64.1% (2004 est.)
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School life expectancy (primary to tertiary education)(years) | | total: 10 years male: 10 years female: 9 years (2006)
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Education expenditures(% of GDP) | | 1.7% of GDP (2004)
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