Khmer Rouge refugees going home after 20 years of war

Cambodian soldiers, former Khmer Rouge guerrillas, rest under a tree

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (CNN) -- After living for decades under fanatical Khmer Rouge guerrilla leaders, hundreds of war-weary refugees crossed into Cambodia on Tuesday in a repatriation effort that will return some to homes they have not seen since the 1970s.

The 395 refugees from Phu Noi camp in Thailand's Si Sa Ket province were the first of about 15,000 refugees to seize an offer from the United Nations to be resettled anywhere in Cambodia they choose.

They fled to Thailand last May when Khmer Rouge forces collapsed and their stronghold at Anlong Veng fell to government troops.

Before that, they had lived under Khmer Rouge control since 1975, when the radical Maoist movement seized control of the country and launched a reign of terror -- often referred to as Cambodia's "killing fields" -- that killed as many as 2 million people.

When the Khmer Rouge were ousted by a Vietnamese invasion in 1979, they fled to northwestern Cambodia and ended up in isolated hamlets controlled by guerrillas waging civil war against the government.

The grip the guerrillas maintained began to loosen last year as mutinies and defections slowly eroded the strength of the Khmer Rouge forces.

Fear, pressure remain a problem

The U.N. refugee agency is moving slowly in its repatriation efforts because of reports that Khmer Rouge leaders are coercing people to move back to Anlong Veng.

Kris Janowski, spokesman for the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, said that an "increasing number" of refugees had expressed the wish to move to eastern provinces, rather than Anlong Veng, the Khmer Rouge's traditional stronghold.

"What we are speculating is that they (Khmer Rouge) are likely trying to hold onto their power," said Nellie Chan, UNHCR representative in Phnom Penh.

"In order to have power, you have to have a base, you have to have people," Chan said.

The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.