Editing Lon Nol (section)

==The 1970 coup==
{{details|1970 Cambodian coup d'état}}
Sihanouk later claimed that the 1970 coup against him was the result of an alliance between his longstanding enemy, exiled politician [[Son Ngoc Thanh]] and Sirik Matak, with [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]] support and planning.<ref name=sihanouk37>[[Norodom Sihanouk]], ''My War with the CIA'', Pantheon, 1972, p.37</ref> Although there are indications that Lon Nol approached the US during 1969 to gauge the likelihood of military support for a coup against Sihanouk,<ref name=kiernan300>Kiernan, B. How Pol Pot came to power, Yale UP, p.300</ref> there is no concrete evidence of CIA involvement,<ref>Wilfred P. Deac, "Road to the Killing Fields: The Cambodian War of 1970–1975" (Texas A&M University Press, 1997) pp.&nbsp;61–2;</ref><ref>Robert Dallek, "Nixon and Kissinger: Partners in Power," (Harper Collins, 2007), p.&nbsp;191;</ref><ref>Steve Heder "Cambodian Communism and the Vietnamese Model, Volume I: Imitation and Independence, 1930–1975," (White Lotus Press, 2004), p.&nbsp;156.]</ref> though it remains possible some military intelligence agents may have had partial responsibility.<ref name=clymer>Clymer, K. J. ''The United States and Cambodia'', Routledge, 2004, p.22</ref> It seems likely that in setting in motion the events leading up to the coup, Lon Nol initially intended to strengthen his position against the North Vietnamese with the ultimate aim of preventing their troops (and those of the [[Viet Cong]]) from operating within Cambodian borders, and wished to apply pressure on Sihanouk to achieve this.<ref name=shawcross118>{{Harvnb|Shawcross|1979|pp=118–119}}</ref> However, events rapidly developed far beyond the original plan, and with the encouragement of Sirik Matak – who wished to see Sihanouk deposed as Head of State – Lon Nol was ultimately to engineer Sihanouk's removal.

While Sihanouk was abroad during March 1970, there were anti-Vietnamese riots in [[Phnom Penh]]. On 12 March, Lon Nol and Sirik Matak closed the port of [[Sihanoukville (city)|Sihanoukville]], through which weapons were being smuggled to the Viet Cong, to the North Vietnamese and issued an ultimatum: all North Vietnamese and Viet Cong forces were to withdraw from Cambodian soil within 72 hours or face military action.<ref name=sutsakhan42>[http://www.vietnam.ttu.edu/star/images/239/2390505001A.pdf Sutsakhan, Lt. Gen. S. ''The Khmer Republic at War and the Final Collapse'' Washington DC: United States Army Center of Military History, 1987, Part 1, p. 42.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190412060055/https://www.vietnam.ttu.edu/star/images/239/2390505001A.pdf |date=12 April 2019 }} See also [http://www.vietnam.ttu.edu/star/images/239/2390505001A.pdf Part 1]   [http://www.vietnam.ttu.edu/star/images/239/2390505001B.pdf Part 2] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070221083105/http://www.vietnam.ttu.edu/star/images/239/2390505001B.pdf |date=21 February 2007 }}[http://www.vietnam.ttu.edu/star/images/239/2390505001C.pdf Part 3] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180124070652/https://www.vietnam.ttu.edu/star/images/239/2390505001C.pdf |date=24 January 2018 }}.</ref>

Lon Nol initially refused to countenance Sihanouk being deposed as Head of State; to force his hand, Sirik Matak played him a tape-recorded press conference from Paris, in which Sihanouk blamed them for the unrest and threatened to execute them both on his return to Phnom Penh.<ref name=marlay165>Marlay, R. and Neher, C. ''Patriots and tyrants'', Rowman & Littlefield, 1999, p.165</ref> However, the Prime Minister remained uncertain as to whether to instigate a vote in the National Assembly. On the night of 17 March, Sirik Matak, accompanied by three army officers, went to the Prime Minister's residence and compelled a weeping Lon Nol to sign the necessary documents at gunpoint.<ref name=chandler>Chandler, D. ''A History of Cambodia'', 2000, p.204</ref>

A vote was taken in the National Assembly on 18 March in which Sihanouk was stripped of his power. General Lon Nol assumed the powers of the Head of State on an emergency basis. On 28 and 29 March there were large-scale popular demonstrations in favour of Sihanouk in several provincial cities, but Lon Nol's forces suppressed them, causing several hundred deaths.<ref name=kiernan302>{{Harvnb|Kiernan|2004|p=302}}</ref> The Khmer Republic was formally declared that October, and Sihanouk – who had formed a government-in-exile, the [[GRUNK]], incorporating the [[Khmer Rouge]] communists – was condemned to death ''in absentia''. In the meantime during the [[Cambodian Campaign]] of April 1970, US and South Vietnamese forces entered Cambodian territory in pursuit of North Vietnamese and Viet Cong troops.