The End of the Regime
The restored monarchy
In 1993, Norodom Sihanouk was restored as King of Cambodia, but all power was in the hands of the government established after the UNTAC(United Nations Transitional Authority in Cambodia) sponsored elections.
The stability established following the conflict was shaken in 1997 by a coup d'état led by the co-Prime Minister Hun Sen against the non-communist parties in the government.
After its government was able to stabilize under Sen, Cambodia was accepted into the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) on 30 April 1999.
Cambodia continued to face enormous problems: a runaway birth rate, a serious AIDS epidemic, a stagnant economy and a widespread deforestation.
Norodom Sihanouk in 1993
Kang Kek Iew - Duch
The trials
On 4 October 2004, the Cambodian National Assembly ratified an agreement with the United Nations on the establishment of a tribunal to try senior leaders responsible for the atrocities committed by the Khmer Rouge. International donor countries have pledged a US$43 Million share of the three-year tribunal budget as Cambodia contributes US $13.3 Million. The tribunal has sentenced several senior Khmer Rouge leaders since 2008.
In July 2010, Kang Kek Iew was the first Khmer Rouge member found guilty of war crimes and crimes against humanity in his role as the former commandant of the S21 extermination camp and he was sentenced to life in prison. However, Hun Sen has opposed extensive trials of former Khmer Rouge mass murderers.
In August 2014, a UN-backed war crimes tribunal, the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (also known as the Khmer Rouge Tribunal), sentenced Khieu Samphan, the regime's 83-year-old former head of state, and Nuon Chea, its 88-year-old chief ideologue, to life in prison on war crimes charges for their role in the country's terror period in the 1970s. The trial began in November 2011.
Two more former high-ranking Khmer Rough officials were convicted in 2014 for crimes against humanity and in 2018 for genocide and received life sentences.
Cambodia is still infested with countless land mines, indiscriminately planted by all warring parties during the decades of war and upheaval.