MONATIO

MONATIO, short for Mouvement National (English: "National Movement") was a short-lived, supposedly nationalist, political faction in Cambodia. The exact nature of the group is still obscure. On April 17, 1975, as the Khmer Rouge entered Phnom Penh, this group took out a motor-cavalcade on the streets of the capital welcoming the arrival of the Khmer Rouge. According to François Ponchaud's eye-witness report, the group consisted of a handful of soldiers, dressed in black uniforms, accompanied by a number of students. He claims MONATIO was led by Hem Keth Dara (the whole group in turn manipulated by Lon Non, brother of deposed Lon Nol).[1] The Khmer Rouge regime later claimed that MONATIO had been a CIA conspiracy against the revolutionary government.[2]

Mouvement National
MONATIO
Dates of operation1975
IdeologyKhmer nationalism
OpponentsKhmer Rouge
Battles and warsFall of Phnom Penh

A movie on the events of 1975, called MONATIO, has been made by Norodom Sihanouk. According to the movie, the communist forces were hardly pleased to be welcomed by MONATIO, and the MONATIO militias were captured and executed.[3]

References
  1. Ponchaud, François. Camboya a sangre y fuego. Año Cero, second edition. Buenos Aires: 1979. p. 17.
  2. Isaacs, Arnold R.. Without Honor: Defeat in Vietnam and Cambodia. JHU Press, 1999. p. 283
  3. New Page 5 Archived 2009-01-09 at the Wayback Machine

Media related to MONATIO at Wikimedia Commons

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.