In November 1978, Vietnamese troops invaded Cambodia.[37] The People's Republic of Kampuchea, a Pro-Soviet state led by the Salvation Front, a group of Cambodian leftists dissatisfied with the Khmer Rouge, was established. In 1981, a government-in-exile was formed from three factions, referred to as the Coalition Government of Democratic Kampuchea, or the CGDK. This consisted of the Khmer Rouge, a royalist faction led by Sihanouk, and the Khmer People's National Liberation Front. The Khmer Rouge representative to the UN, Thiounn Prasith, was retained.[38][39]
Throughout the 1980s the Khmer Rouge, primarily supplied by China,[40] continued to control much of the country and attacked territory not under their dominance. These attacks, led to economic sanctions[41] by the U.S. and its allies, made reconstruction virtually impossible and left the country deeply impoverished.
Peace efforts began in Paris in 1989 under the State of Cambodia, culminating two years later in October 1991 in a comprehensive peace settlement. The UN was given a mandate to enforce a ceasefire and deal with refugees and disarmament known as the United Nations Transitional Authority in Cambodia (UNTAC).[42]
In 1993, Norodom Sihanouk was restored as King of Cambodia, making Cambodia the world's only postcommunist country which restored monarchy as the system of government. The stability established following the conflict was shaken in 1997 by a coup d'état[43] but has otherwise remained in place. In recent years, reconstruction efforts have progressed and led to some political stability in the form of a multiparty democracy under a constitutional monarchy.[44] 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. He was sentenced to 35 years in prison.[45]
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