Editing Khmer Rouge (section)

==== Insurgency and surrender ====
{{Further|Cambodian Conflict (1979–1998)}}[[File:Khmers rouges map.png|thumb|Khmer Rouge's activities in 1989–1990]]
Vietnam's victory was supported by the Soviet Union and had significant ramifications for the region. The People's Republic of China launched a [[Sino-Vietnamese War|punitive invasion]] of northern Vietnam but then retreated, with both sides claiming victory. China, the United States and the [[ASEAN]] countries sponsored the creation and the military operations of a Cambodian [[government in exile]], known as the Coalition Government of Democratic Kampuchea, which included the Khmer Rouge, the republican [[Khmer People's National Liberation Front]] and the royalist [[FUNCINPEC|Funcinpec Party]].<ref name="Cook 2017" />{{rp|201–21}}

Eastern and central Cambodia were firmly under the control of Vietnam and its Cambodian allies by 1980, while the western part of the country continued to be a battlefield throughout the 1980s, and millions of [[land mine]]s were sown across the countryside. The Khmer Rouge, still led by Pol Pot, was the strongest of the three rebel groups in the Coalition Government, which received extensive military aid from China, Britain and the United States and intelligence from the Thai military. Great Britain and the United States in particular gave aid to the two non-Khmer Rouge members of the coalition.<ref>Thayer, Nate (Spring 1991). "Cambodia: Misperceptions and Peace". ''The Washington Quarterly''.</ref>

In an attempt to broaden its support base, the Khmer Rouge formed the [[Patriotic and Democratic Front of the Great National Union of Kampuchea]] in 1979. In 1981, the Khmer Rouge went so far as to officially renounce communism<ref name="Cook 2017" /> and somewhat moved their ideological emphasis to [[nationalism]] and [[Anti-Vietnamese sentiment|anti-Vietnamese]] rhetoric instead. Some analysts argue that this change meant little in practice because according to historian Kelvin Rowley, the "CPK propaganda had always relied on nationalist rather than revolutionary appeals".<ref name="Cook 2017" />

Pol Pot relinquished the Khmer Rouge leadership to Khieu Samphan in 1985; however, he continued to be the driving force behind the Khmer Rouge insurgency, giving speeches to his followers. Journalist [[Nate Thayer]], who spent some time with the Khmer Rouge during that period, commented that despite the international community's near-universal condemnation of the Khmer Rouge's brutal rule a considerable number of Cambodians in Khmer Rouge-controlled areas seemed genuinely to support Pol Pot.<ref name="pbs" /> While Vietnam proposed to withdraw from Cambodia in return for a political settlement that would exclude the Khmer Rouge from power, the rebel coalition government as well as ASEAN, China and the United States, insisted that such a condition was unacceptable.<ref name="Cook 2017" /> Nevertheless, Vietnam declared in 1985 that it would complete the withdrawal of its forces from Cambodia by 1990 and it did so in 1989, having allowed the Cambodian People's Party government that it had installed there to consolidate its rule and gain sufficient military strength.<ref name="Pilger 2004" />[[File:TuolSlang3.jpg|thumb|Photos of the victims of the Khmer Rouge]]

After a decade of inconclusive conflict, the pro-Vietnamese Cambodian government and the rebel coalition signed a treaty in 1991 calling for elections and disarmament. However, the Khmer Rouge resumed fighting in 1992, boycotted the election and in the following year rejected its results. It began fighting the Cambodian coalition government which included the former Vietnamese-backed communists (headed by Hun Sen) as well as the Khmer Rouge's former non-communist and monarchist allies (notably Prince [[Norodom Ranariddh|Rannaridh]]).

Ieng Sary led a mass defection from the Khmer Rouge in 1996, with half of its remaining soldiers (about 4,000) switching to the government side and Ieng Sary becoming leader of [[Pailin Province]].<ref name="Becker 1998" />{{rp|515}} A conflict between the two main participants in the ruling coalition caused in 1997 Prince Rannaridh to seek support from some of the Khmer Rouge leaders while refusing to have any dealings with Pol Pot.<ref name="Pilger 2004" /><ref name="pbs">{{cite web|url=https://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/asia/june97/cambodia_6-18.html|title=Continuing Unrest|agency=PBS|date=18 June 1997|type=Transcript|publisher=PBS|access-date=27 July 2010|archive-date=4 January 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140104210804/https://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/asia/june97/cambodia_6-18.html|url-status=dead}}</ref> This resulted in bloody factional fighting among the Khmer Rouge leaders, ultimately leading to Pol Pot's trial and imprisonment by the Khmer Rouge. Pol Pot died in April 1998.<ref name="Chandler 2018" />{{rp|186}} Khieu Samphan and Nuon Chea surrendered in December 1998.<ref>{{cite news|date=26 December 1998|title=Khmer Rouge leaders surrender|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/242577.stm|publisher=[[BBC News]]|access-date=7 August 2014|archive-date=30 July 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170730084142/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/242577.stm|url-status=live}}</ref> On 29 December 1998, leaders of the Khmer Rouge apologised for the 1970s genocide.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/1998/dec/30/cambodia|title=Pol Pot men say sorry for killing fields|first=John|last=Gittings|date=30 December 1998|work=The Guardian|accessdate=29 August 2021|archive-date=16 April 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210416190708/https://www.theguardian.com/world/1998/dec/30/cambodia|url-status=live}}</ref> By 1999, most members had surrendered or been captured. In December 1999, Ta Mok and the remaining leaders surrendered, and the Khmer Rouge effectively ceased to exist.