Lon Nol

Lon Nol ( born November 13, 1913 in Kampong Leav, † November 17, 1985 in Fullerton, California ) was Cambodian army officer and politician.

Political career

Lon Nol was born in Prey Veng province. After attending high school in Sisowath he was hired by the French colonial administration, where he reached the position of a provincial governor with 32 years. Later he became a Cambodian police chief, 1954 Governor of the province of Battambang, 1955 Chief of Staff of the Cambodian army. In the late 1950s he was the chief commander of the army and defense minister, prime minister from 1966 to 1967, an office he again took over in September 1969.

The government of Prince Sihanouk became increasingly this time under pressure, both from the inside by the communist guerrilla group of the Khmer Rouge, and from the outside by the infiltration of the border areas to South Vietnam by the Viet Cong in the context of the Vietnam War.

Head of state

While Sihanouk was on a trip to Moscow and Beijing, he was born on 18 March 1970 with the significant contribution of Lon Nol, at that time prime minister overthrown. Lon Nol had organized demonstrations against the presence of Vietnamese in the border area and an ultimatum calling for their withdrawal. Sihanouk threatened from abroad with the arrest of the government, but continued his travels continued. The Cambodian National Assembly declared deposed Sihanouk, Lon Nol was given special powers. The cousin of Sihanouk, Prince sirik Matak remained Deputy Prime Minister. The new government was quickly recognized by most countries, including the United States and the Soviet Union - but not from the People's Republic of China, where Sihanouk was living in exile.

Lon Nol government was largely accepted by the urban middle and upper classes, in the country but the deposed Sihanouk was more revered. On October 9, 1970, the monarchy was declared abolished in 1972 took over the office of president Lon Nol and the rank of Marshal.

On the role of the U.S. in the overthrow of Sihanouk, there are different points of view:

• The U.S. wanted and supported Lon Nol coup against Sihanouk in order to obtain a freer hand against the Vietcong.
• Sihanouk had lost the backing of parliament, government and administration. His deselection happened without external influences.

In the following years, Lon Nol troops increasingly lost control of the country, its government was seen as unpopular, incompetent and corrupt ( → History of Cambodia ).

Exile

On April 1, 1975 Lon Nol fled from the capital Phnom Penh, which was taken shortly afterwards by the Khmer Rouge. His brother Lon Non and his former deputy Prince sirik Matak remained in the country and were murdered. He settled first in Hawaii and went down in 1979 to California.