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Nonetheless, and as demonstrated below, U.S. military bombings continued until
August 1973.450
155. On 27 January 1973, the United States signed a ceasefire agreement with
Vietnam.451 The Khmer Rouge, for their part, refused to sign a ceasefire with the
LON Nol government and there followed a sharp increase in the U.S. bombing of
Khmer Rouge-controlled locations throughout Cambodia.452 In total, the U.S. dropped
several hundred thousand tonnes of bombs in Cambodia.453 Although many of the
bombs fell in areas that were not heavily populated, it is estimated that tens of
thousands of people were killed.454 François PONCHAUD, who was in Phnom Penh
at the time, testified that people were terrified and traumatised by the carpet
bombing.455 The primary effect was probably to drive people from rural areas to take
450
Book by W. SHAWCROSS: Sideshow: Kissinger, Nixon and the Destruction of Cambodia, E3/88,
pp. 213-218, ERN (En) 00429900-05.
451
SUONG Sikoeun Book Manuscript, E3/40, 2000, ERN (Fr) 0078993; Book by F. PONCHAUD:
Cambodia Year Zero, E243.1, ERN (En) 00862112 (After the agreements concluded with North
Vietnam on January 27, 1973, America undertook to restore peace in Cambodia by detaching the
Khmer Rouge from Sihanouk and launching the idea of a coalition government to be formed after
negotiation with all parties concerned); Department of Press and Information of the Ministry of Foreign
Affairs of Democratic Kampuchea – Black Paper Publication, E3/23, September 1978, p.60, ERN (En)
00082543(Kampuchea refused to negotiate and cease-fire in spite of the Vietnamese pressures, threats
and provocations).
452
T. 23 July 2012 (David CHANDLER), pp. 40-43, 125; Book by W. SHAWCROSS: Sideshow:
Kissinger, Nixon and the Destruction of Cambodia, E3/88, pp. 260-265, 272 ERN (En) 00429947-52,
00429959. .
453
T. 24 July 2012 (David CHANDLER), pp. 141-142; Book by W. SHAWCROSS: Sideshow:
Kissinger, Nixon and the Destruction of Cambodia, E3/88, pp. 272, ERN (En) 00429959 (“In all of
1972 the B-52s had dropped just under 37,000 tons of bombs onto Cambodia. In March 1973 they
dropped over 24,000, in April about 35,000 and in May almost 36,000 tons. So with the fighter
bombers. In 1972 they had loosed 16,513 tons of bombs at their targets. In April 1973 alone, they
dropped almost 15,000 tons, and the figure rose monthly to over 19,000 tons in July.”)
454
T. 23 July 2012 (David CHANDLER), pp. 40-43, 125; T. 11 April 2013 (François PONCHAUD)
pp. 27, 30 (estimating there were 40,000 deaths); Book by W. SHAWCROSS: Sideshow: Kissinger,
Nixon and the Destruction of Cambodia, E3/88, p. 35, ERN (En) 00429722 (“Peasants were killed-no
one knows how many […].”); Book by Khieu S.: Cambodia’s Recent History and the Reasons Behind
the Decisions I Made, E3/18, p. 52, ERN (En) 00103749 (KHIEU Samphan estimates bombings killed
tens of thousands of Cambodians); T. 31 July 2012 (ROCHOEM Ton alias PHY Phuon), p. 31-32 (in
1968 and 1969, even rice fields were heavily bombed and starting in 1964 people left the villages to
stay in the jungle because of the heavy bombardments); T. 31 July 2012 (ROCHOEM Ton alias PHY
Phuon), p. 36 (by 1969 villagers were used to the bombings and learned to avoid them by fleeing into
the jungle without injury, but the cattle died; 31of the witness’ family members died from a
bombardment in 1973).
455
T. 9 April 2013 (François PONCHAUD), p. 14; See also, Documentary by P. DU CANE and M.
KELLEY: Cambodia Year Zero 5 – the Bloodiest Domino, E3/3137R (Witness stating ordinary people
were terrified and some would become shell-shocked, like their brains were completely shattered.
Terrified and half crazy, they would believe anything they were told, and because there was so much
shelling they believed whatever the Khmer Rouge told them).
Case 002/01, Judgement, 7 August 2014 - Public
86
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