United Nations Advance Mission in Cambodia (UNAMIC) and the United Nations Transitional Authority in Cambodia (UNTAC)

Duration

18 February 1992 - 18 November 1993

Military personnel

2.636

Fatalities

2

Decorations

1

Khmer Rouge reign of terror

Royalists and communists organised themselves into militant resistance movements. The hard core of the resistance was formed by the communist Khmer Rouge. The right-wing government quickly lost its grip on the country and in April 1975, the Khmer Rouge marched into the Cambodian capital Phnom Penh. The Khmer Rouge embarked upon a ruthless political and social revolution. This reign of terror is estimated to have cost the lives of more than a million Cambodians.

Vietnam supports resistance

The aim of the Khmer Rouge was to restore the lost Khmer kingdom of the Middle Ages to its former glory, at the expense of the neighbouring countries. Vietnam took the side of the Cambodian resistance. The support was of such magnitude that the Vietnamese troops in turn captured Phnom Penh in 1979. The ousted Khmer Rouge began a fierce guerrilla war against the new pro-Vietnamese regime. Prince Sihanouk's royalists, known as the 'White Khmer', continued their military actions.

Ceasefire

It was another 10 years before the Cambodian resistance and the Vietnamese-backed Cambodian government were ready to come to the negotiating table to resolve their differences. The warring parties agreed to a ceasefire in April 1991 and ratified the Paris accords on 30 October 1991. In support of the implementation of these accords, the Security Council set up the United Nations Transitional Authority in Cambodia (UNTAC) on 28 February 1992.