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In 1989, Vietnamese troops began to withdraw from Cambodia. The new prime minister, Hun Sen, renounced socialism, legalized Buddhism and entered into peace talks with the Sihanouk-Khmer Rouge coalition. In a diplomatic about-face, the Bush administration announced that the United States would recognize Sen's government. However, during the drafting of the 1991 peace agreement that ended Cambodia's civil war, the United States sided with China and the Khmer Rouge on one hotly contested issue. All three opposed any mention of the word "genocide" in the treaty. photo:
Prime Minister Hun Sen at UN headquarters, 1997 |
As
a young Khmer Rouge commander, Hun Sen took part in the 1975 takeover
of Phnom Penh, losing his left eye in the battle. Two years later he
defected to Vietnam to escape the bloody purges within party ranks.
In 1985, when Sen was 33 years old, the Vietnamese appointed him prime
minister of the People's Republic of Kampuchea, making him the world's
youngest prime minister. Once labeled a puppet of the Vietnamese, Sen
has emerged as a determined and sometimes ruthless leader. But he claims
his goal is not simply staying in power, but alleviating Cambodia's
many ills. "I want to be a strongman and do something for my country,"
he told an interviewer. "I want to build our economy like the other
Southeast Asian strongmen did." 