By Luke Reynolds
The cambodia daily

The new millennium is celebrated with a fireworks display over Angkor Wat.

The millennium year saw the emergence of a mysterious US-based anti-government group, wrangling over justice for former Khmer Rouge leaders and a baffling court decision about a 1994 bomb attack.

When a group of rag-tag soldiers calling themselves the Cambodian Freedom Fighters launched a failed coup in Phnom Penh, at least eight people were killed and 14 were injured.

About 50 CFF members lobbed grenades and rockets at a gas station, a truckful of police and the Council of Ministers on Pochentong Boulevard in the early morning of Nov 24. They and another band of fighters moved on to the Ministry of Defense, where they engaged in a firefight with soldiers.

Forty-nine suspected rebels were arrested, including a Cambodian-American named Richard Kiri Kim who admitted to commanding the attack. The group’s self-professed leader, Chhun Yasith, claimed responsibility for its planning from his home in the US state of California.

The group was little-known before the attack, and many doubted its existence. Chhun Yasith, a former Sam Rainsy Party member, said afterward he would continue fighting in hopes of overthrowing the government of Prime Minister Hun Sen.

Still, some speculated that the coup attempt, which was widely viewed as poorly planned and inept, was staged by the ruling party to discredit democratic groups in the country.

“The CFF was built on that purpose, to eliminate that [resistance] element,” said one political analyst. “And it succeeded.”

In July, a law granting immunity to Khmer Rouge defectors cleared Chhouk Rin of his alleged involvement in a 1994 train ambush and bomb attack that led to the death of 13 Cambodians and three foreign backpackers.

Days later, at the urging of several Western governments, the government decided to appeal the acquittal.

Chhouk Rin, a former rebel commander, defected to the government about 10 weeks after the attack and became a colonel in the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces. He was one of three men believed to be involved in the raid in Kampot province, and was arrested in January.

Villagers in his home municipality of Kep celebrated his acquittal and held a massive party to celebrate his return, while the parents of the three backpackers—from France, Australia and Great Britain—reeled in disbelief.

Rebels bombed the train and held the backpackers hostage for six weeks. They were killed when negotiations with the government failed.

Chhouk Rin’s acquittal only reinforced perceptions among donor countries that the courts were was steeped in corruption, said Thun Saray, director of Adhoc.

“His case was one among hundreds and hundreds in our society,” Thun Saray said. “We can see more and more that people are not happy with our judiciary.”

(Chhouk Rin remained at large in 2003, despite a ruling in 2002 by the appeals court finding him guilty in the murders of the three Western backpackers and a 13 Cambodians.)

Government and UN officials took a deliberate but significant step toward reconciling their differences and forming an international tribunal to prosecute former Khmer Rouge leaders.

In April, after two days of intense discussions with US Senator John Kerry, Hun Sen agreed with UN officials upon an informal plan on how to conduct the trials and submitted a draft proposal to the National Assembly.

A UN delegation had negotiated with government leaders at length and finally agreed on a diluted version of a UN demand that a foreign prosecutor control the process of deciding who will stand trial. Lawmakers ratified the draft law in early 2001.

Cambodians quietly commemorated the 25th anniversary of the fall of Phnom Penh to the invading Khmer Rouge and the beginning of its brutal four-year rule.

The government made no acknowledgment of the April 17 date “in order to avoid controversial opinions,” a spokesman said at the time. Sam Rainsy oversaw a small independent ceremony at the Choeung Ek “killing fields” outside Phnom Penh.

Looking ahead to commune elections scheduled for 2001 and general elections in 2003, Funcinpec made moves of conciliation and unity with some former members.

Funcinpec officials at a party summit asked for the party—fractured after 1997 factional fighting—to regroup and prepare for the elections.

But Funcinpec balked at allowing Reastr Niyum, a splinter group that distanced itself from the prince after royalist forces were routed in 1997, to rejoin.

The owner of a power company and two businessmen were convicted on charges of stealing and reselling hundreds of thousands of dollars in electricity from the state utilities company Electricite du Cambodge.

The scandal prompted the prince to call for an independent government inquiry into EdC, which he alleged was rife with corruption.

Chea Rity, who owned the company under his name, said that EdC officials regularly received payoffs for the stolen electricity, which he rerouted to 25 private businesses. EdC claimed it had lost about $830,000 in the scam. No EdC officials were ever charged.

The colonial-era T3 prison was closed in January and more than 500 prisoners moved to a new facility on the outskirts of Phnom Penh.

T3 guards, residents near the new facility and family members of prisoners protested the move because of its location 20 km from town.

The T3 land was traded to the petroleum company Sokimex in exchange for construction of the new prison. The old prison was later demolished.