CAMBODIA MARKS ANNIVERSARY, BUT NO CLOSURE -- Cambodia marked the 30th anniversary of the demise of the Khmer Rouge regime Jan. 7 with memorials for the suffering of millions. But the country remains haunted by the knowledge that perpetrators of Cambodia's greatest crime have yet to stand trial for their crimes. Pol Pot's Khmer Rouge regime held sway over Cambodia from 1975-1979, a period in which millions of Cambodians died from torture, overwork, starvation and executions. In early 1979, a joint Vietnamese-Cambodian force toppled the regime, bringing in a new government largely beholden to its Vietnamese allies. Some Cambodians object to celebrating the date's anniversary, as it ushered in a decade of restrictive Vietnamese control, while others mark it as the close to Cambodia's darkest chapter. The celebrations contained no public recognition of the lingering frustration and confusion over the government's failure so far to try any of the people responsible for the Khmer Rouge's worst atrocities, despite the efforts of a United Nations-backed tribunal designed to do so.
Rights & Wrongs: Cambodia, Ethiopia, DRC and More
