01005757 Case File No. 002/19-09-2007/ECCC/TC E313 Mekong River in 1975.470 According to NUON Chea, although there was not an abundance of food in the cooperatives, the population needed to be evacuated from Phnom Penh where the food situation was dire so they would have enough to eat.471 He explained that at the time of the mid-1974 meeting at which it was decided to evacuate Phnom Penh, the United States of America had suspended its aid to Cambodia, and Phnom Penh subsequently experienced a food shorage as an immediate consequence of the end of this support.472 Thus, the plan was to relocate people to other areas of Cambodia where food was available, such as in the Northwest Zone, to alleviate the food problem in Phnom Penh.473 160. A draft 1975 report of the U.S. Agency for International Development attributed the food crisis to “the breakdown of security.”474 The report indicated that rice stocks in Cambodia “were seldom adequate for more than a few weeks,” and at one point in November 1974 there was only a three-day supply. The report predicted that “without large scale external food and equipment assistance there will be widespread starvation between now [September 1975] and next February [1976].”475 470 T. 11 April 2013 (François PONCHAUD), p. 30; T. 6 June 2013 (Sydney SCHANBERG), pp. 5859; T. 24 October 2012 (LAY Bony), pp. 47-51 (prior to liberation Phnom Penh was in a state of chaos; the city was overcrowded and the food supply was a problem); T. 22 November 2012 (MEAS Saran), pp. 40-43, 49-50 (in the lead up to the evacuation, there were no food shortages per se, but it became more difficult to access food as the prices increased daily; during the last few days in Phnom Penh, food was very expensive as people continued to flow into the city); T. 5 December 2012 (PECH Srey Phal), pp. 11-14 (noted the cost of living was rising, including prices of medicine and food; “food was scarce and people found it more and more difficult to get what they needed.”); T. 12 December 2012 (Denise AFFONÇO), pp. 76-77 (it was not a famine as there was still food to be found; while supplies were short people were still able to feed themselves); T. 13 December 2012 (Denise AFFONÇO), pp. 77-78 (food prices, and even the price of the sweetened condensed milk that was made in her former factory (Sokilait), went up considerably). 471 T. 13 December 2011 (NUON Chea), pp. 29-30. 472 T. 13 December 2011 (NUON Chea), p. 27; T. 30 January 2012 (NUON Chea), pp. 14-17; T. 31 January 2012 (NUON Chea), p. 15. See also, French Ministry of Foreign Affairs Telegram, Subject: Conversation with the Chinese Ambassador, E3/2708, 13 May 1975, p. 2, ERN (En) 00753569 (Chinese ambassador considered the evacuation attempted to resolve the food issue). 473 T. 13 December 2011 (NUON Chea), p. 30. 474 USAID Report: Cambodia Termination Report Vol. 1, E3/4178, September 1975, p. 10, ERN (En) 00291334. 475 USAID Report: Cambodia Termination Report Vol. 1, E3/4178, September 1975, p. 17, ERN (En) 00291340. Case 002/01, Judgement, 7 August 2014 - Public 90