88. Telegram From the Embassy in China to the Department of State1
3134. Subj: Letter From Sihanouk to President Carter.
1. Following is Embassy translation of letter from Prince Sihanouk to President Carter received April 7. Begin text:
Mr. President:
Permit me to solicit from Your Excellency, who has always accorded such noble support to the Khmer people, his aid, that is to say that of the United States of America, so that the Khmer people can survive after long years of misfortune without precedent in the history of humanity.
The present situation of the Khmer people is as follows:
First, there are in Thailand along the Thai-Cambodian frontier more than 700,000 Khmers (men and women, old and young) who have fled the inhumane regime of the Khmer Rouge and the Vietnamese colonialism established since 1979 in Cambodia. These refugees live in miserable conditions and have to face terrible dangers. They could be from one moment to the next forced back into Kampuchea by the Thai authorities. They are victims of a fratricidal war which is caused by different armed Khmer “red” and “blue” factions. They are humiliated slaves and are inhumanely exploited by Cambodian “war lords.” The humanitarian aid (that of UNICEF, the Red Cross, etc.) which was destined for them has been in large part diverted by these “war lords,” by the “government” and by the Cambodian “resistance,” protected by China and Thailand.
[Page 323]Secondly, in “the Popular Republic of Kampuchea” under the Vietnamese protectorate, the fate of the Cambodian people is, it appears, much better than that known under the yoke of the Khmer Rouge. But four facts are undeniable: the humanitarian aid accorded by the international community to the Cambodian population has only been partially distributed to the latter; in limiting the entry of humanitarian aid to the port of Kompong Som and to Phnom Penh, the “government” of Heng Samrin is not permitting all of this aid to reach the Khmer people expeditiously; Western observers in Cambodia are not able to visit all the projects to investigate the situation; in several months there will be an extremely serious famine which, if it is not checked in time, will decimate hundreds of thousands of humble and innocent Khmers.
Mr. President, taking into account the tragic situation of the Khmer people outlined above, I beg you to do everything in your power to:
1. See that Thailand never expels to Cambodia the Khmers who have fled the Khmer Rouge or Vietnamese colonialism.
2. Have Western Europe and North America, the countries of choice of the refugee Khmer, accept a greater number of these refugees.
3. “Depoliticize” and “demilitarize” the collection and distribution of humanitarian aid to Khmers in Thailand and in the border zones.
4. See that the “government” of Heng Samrin in Phnom Penh and that of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam permit humanitarian aid coming from the West and elsewhere to be shipped by land routes in addition to ocean, river and air routes and to be distributed in the presence of representatives of the donating countries or organizations to the population over all the provinces, districts and communes of Cambodia.
5. Send in the months to come more food to the indigenous population of Cambodia and a large quantity of rice seed so that the rice growing season of this year (the rainy season will begin in a month) can at least have some success.
Mr. President, I take this occasion to thank once again Your Excellency and the United States for your generosity in regard to the Kampuchean people.
It is with sentiments of infinite gratitude that I beg you, Mr. President, to accept the assurances of my highest consideration.
N. Sihanouk, 6 April 1980. End text.
2. Original text being pouched to Department.2
3. Prince Sihanouk departed Beijing for Pyongyang April 6.