Pol Pot alive, Cambodian general says
June 22, 1997
Web posted at: 11:18 a.m. EDT (1518 GMT)PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (CNN) -- Khmer Rouge guerrilla strongman Pol Pot, blamed for the "killing fields" deaths of more than 1 million people in the 1970s, is still alive and being held captive by dissident guerrillas, Cambodian Gen. Nhiek Bun Chhay told reporters Sunday.
Nhiek Bun Chhay, a senior Cambodian army general and the government's chief negotiator with Khmer Rouge rebels, said he saw Pol Pot Sunday in the northern city of Anlong Veng, at the jungle headquarters of the breakaway faction that captured him last week.
CNN's John Raedler reports on Bun Chhay's Pol Pot sighting AIFF or WAV
(451K/40 sec.. audio)
"Pol Pot is still alive. I met him this morning," Nhiek Bun Chhay said. His statement is the first confirmation from someone of credibility in the Cambodian government during this week-long saga that Pol Pot is alive.
Pol Pot, 69, was very sick, the general said, adding that the rebels would hand him over to the government soon.
The general's comments followed earlier conflicting reports about Pol Pot. Cambodia's First Prime Minister Norodom Ranariddh said Sunday he could confirm that Pol Pot had been arrested and was alive, while Second Prime Minster Hun Sen said he had heard that Pol Pot was dead.
"Fifteen minutes ago I heard the interior minister say that he had heard on the radio that Pol Pot was dead," Hun Sen said, citing Khmer Rouge radio as the minister's source.
However, serious doubts soon arose over the source and authenticity of Hun Sen's information. Hun Sen himself admitted that the report was unconfirmed. After people monitoring Khmer Rouge radio said they had heard no such report, the interior minister later said he had heard the information from an aide, who may have been confused.
One clear item emerges from all the confusion, though: It is now highly likely that Pol Pot's nearly two decades on the run are over.
The Khmer Rouge's guerrilla movement may be near an end, too. Nhiek Bun Chhay said the Khmer Rouge has decided to end its rebellion against the government on Monday. He read to reporters a declaration he said would be issued by the communist guerrillas that said they will stop supporting the political and military organizations of Pol Pot.
Pol Pot has not been seen in public since shortly after his 1979 overthrow at the hands of an invading Vietnamese army. Blamed for mass killings when his hard-line communist guerrilla movement ruled the country from 1975 to 1979, he was sentenced to death in absentia by a Phnom Penh court soon after he was deposed.
Now, security is obvious on the streets of Phnom Penh as this latest Pol Pot saga unfolds. Many Cambodians say that given the chance, they would kill him. The nation's leaders say they want him tried for genocide by a United Nations tribunal.
Leaders of the Group of Seven leading industrial countries and Russia, meeting this weekend in the United States, agreed on Friday night to send French and Japanese envoys to Cambodia to study the situation there, officials said.
Reporter John Raedler contributed to this report.
- Newsmaker Profile: Pol Pot
Related stories:
- Pol Pot captured, but where is he? - June 20, 1997
- Unconfirmed report: Pol Pot captured - June 20, 1997
- Pol Pot mystery renewed - June 19, 1997
- Cambodian general: Pol Pot surrenders - June 18, 1997
- Pol Pot's Khmer Rouge denounces him - June 17, 1997
- Pol Pot reportedly trapped in Cambodian jungle - June 14, 1997
- Pol Pot reportedly on the run after slaughter - June 13, 1997
- 'Killing Fields' victims surface on the Internet - Feb. 1, 1997
Related sites:
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- Cambodia Phoenix Network
- Cambodian Homepage
- Destination Cambodia
- Cambodia - CARE
- The Cambodian Genocide Program
- Film Review: "The Killing Fields"
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