Lon Nol

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Image:GenLonNol.jpg General Lon Nol (November 13, 1913 - November 17, 1985) was a Cambodian politician who served two times as Prime Minister of Cambodia in addition to serving other times as Defence Minister.

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Biography

Born in Prey Veng Province on November 13, 1913, Lon Nol was educated by the French for the civil service. He became a provincial governor in 1946 and the rose to become the first leader of the Cambodian police and then held a series of important military posts. He became chief of staff in 1955 and by 1960 he held the dual position of supreme commander of the military and minister of defense. In 1966 and 1967, he served as prime minister. In 1969, after the Cambodian left went underground, he became prime minister a second time.

While Prince Norodom Sihanouk was away on a trip to Moscow and Beijing being treated for cancer, General Lon Nol assumed leadership of the new Khmer Republic/République khmère government.

On March 18, 1970, the National Assembly was convened, and voted unanimously to depose Sihanouk as head of state. Lon Nol, who had been serving as prime minister, was granted emergency powers. Prince Sirik Matak, a royal prince who in 1941, had been passed over by the French government in favor of his cousin Norodom Sihanouk's leadership role, retained his post as Deputy Prime Minister.

Following Sihanouk's exit, Lon Nol demanded that the North Vietnamese Army and Viet Cong leave Cambodia. He also closed the ports of Cambodia to military supplies for the Vietnamese forces. Sihanouk had, in 1965, made a secret deal with North Vietnam and China which allowed those countries to use Cambodia as a base area for the war on South Vietnam. In 1968, he struck another secret deal with the Americans allowing them to Bomb eastern Cambodia. Lon Nol allowed American and ARVN forces to cross occasionally into Cambodia. The government also assumed a pro-Western, anti-Communist stance. The goal of American bombings in Cambodia was to destroy North Vietnamese and National Liberation Front (Viet Cong) bases in the area.

Soon after, the North Vietnamese and Chinese increased military aid to the Khmer Rouge who had been fighting against the government since 1968. Sihanouk, in China, allied himself to the communists and allowed himself to be used as a figurehead for the anti-government forces. The Cambodian Civil War then began between the Khmer National Armed Forces (FANK) loyal to Nol and the Cambodian People's National Liberation Armed Forces (which was under the total control by the communist-Maoist-nationalist Khmer Rouge). Because he had abolished the monarchy and established the Khmer Republic, Nol was widely unpopular in the countryside, where support for Sihanouk was strong. Sihanouk formed a government-in-exile in Beijing known as the Royal Government of the National Union of Kampuchea (GRUNK), and a political coalition known as the National United Front of Kampuchea (FUNK), urging resistance to Nol. Sihanouk served as a useful symbol of resistance for the Khmer Rouge, who consolidated control in GRUNK and FUNK and rallied peasants to join the insurgency.

With his country descending into civil war, Nol turned to the Americans for assistance. On November 18, 1970, U.S. President Richard Nixon responded by requesting Congress to approve $155 million in supplemental aid for the Cambodian government ($85 million was allocated for military assistance.) The Nixon administration and the CIA maintained friendly relations with Nol's government, having been frustrated with Prince Sihanouk's semi-neutral policies. The United States was angered that, although officially neutral, Sihanouk allowed the NVA, PAVN and Viet Cong free-reign within Cambodia to wage war against South Vietnam. However, despite U.S. aid, Nol was unable to defeat the North Vietnamese forces nor the Khmer Rouge. In the name of "neutralism" and out of fear of a coup, Sihanouk had kept the Cambodian army small. In February 1971, Lon Nol suffered a stroke from which he would never fully recover. Yet, he still held on to power with US backing. Despite large numbers of volunteers, the Cambodian Army was simply outmatched by a Vietnamese opponent with heavy weapons and years of war experience. Given that the entire country quickly turned into a war zone, economic destablization and refugees meant that no amount of money could make the situation better. With the unlimited material backing of China and Vietnam, the direct assistance of the North Vietnamese Army and with Sihanouk as a figurehead, the Khmer Rouge could not be stopped.

After many years of holding on, the government was eventually reduced to holding little more than Phnom Penh. At one point during a Khmer Rouge assault on Phnom Penh, Nol resorted to tradition and sprinkled a circular line of magic sand in order to defend the city. Finally, on April 1, 1975, Nol resigned and fled the country into exile in Hawaii. He had reason to flee in that the Khmer Rouge with the implicit approval of Sihanouk had published a death list with his name at the top. His brother Lon Non and other Khmer Republic officials including Sirik Matak chose to stay behind. They stayed behind because their names had not been published on the death lists and they made the assumption that either the Khmer Rouge would be moderate in victory or that Sihanouk could restrain them. They were summarily executed by the Khmer Rouge after Phnom Penh was captured on April 17, 1975.

Lon Nol first settled in Hawaii and then moved in 1979 to California. He died on November 17, 1985.

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