កម្ពុជា ឆ្នាំ ១៩៨០

1980-1984  Chronology of Cambodian History
Abbreviations on this page

• Jan. 1980 Foreign ministers of the three Indochina countries, Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos, met in Phnom Penh to announce a unified stand on Cambodian problems and other international issues.
• Jan. 2, 1980 The UN World Food Program announced that it would not ship more food to Cambodia during Jan. citing a backlog of undistributed food that had built up at the port of Kompong Som and Phnom Penh.
• Jan. 4-6, 1980 Khmer Rouge fighters took control of a large refugee camp near the Thai border after three days of fighting. The camp that houses an estimated 200,000 refugees was controlled by the Khmer Serei rebel.
• Jan. 20, 1980 International emergency aid shipments to Cambodian refugees in eastern Thailand were resumed following their suspension on Jan. 10. Trucks carrying rice and other supplies had been halted after Thai civilians and Cambodian guerrillas looted food convoys.
• Jan. 31, 1980 US Sen. Levin introduces S.CON.RES.72
• Feb. 5, 1980 The PRK and the USSR signed in Moscow a Protocol on the establishment of the Soviet Trade Mission in Cambodia. [Agreement in English French Khmer]
• Feb. 6, 1980 About 150 celebrities, politicians, and charity workers from Europe and North America gathered at Thai border town of Aranyaprathet for "March for Survival of Cambodia". Organizers said the March aim at drawing attention to conditions in Cambodia, and it would be proceed although it has been condemned by the Phnom Penh govt. as interference in Cambodia's internal affairs.
• Feb. 10, 1980 James Grant, executive director of UNICEF who made a weeklong visit to Cambodia, announced that an international relief effort had prevented a disaster in Cambodia at least for the next few months. He said thousands of tons of food and medicine piled up in warehouses were finally reaching the countryside.
• Feb. 16, 1980 The PRK and Czechoslovakia signed in Phnom Penh an agreement on co-operation in the field of public health and medical science. [Agreement in English French]
• Feb. 22, 1980 In a news conference in Washington, Prince Sihanouk said he came to America to seek support for a new armed insurgency in Cambodia, and said neither the ousted Pol Pot's nor the current Phnom Penh's govt. can legitimately represent Cambodia since Pol Pot's had been completely rejected by the people, who are the victim of their genocide, and Phnom Penh's govt. just a puppet of Vietnam.
• Feb. 26, 1980 US House of Rep. pass a resolution S.CON.RES.72 expressing the sense of Congress that the US Pres. should request the UN to establish an international presence in the Cambodian refugee camps on the Thai-Cambodian border to promote security and oversee the distribution of food.
• March 18, 1980 A 25-year Treaty of Friendship and Co-operation was signed in Berlin between the PRK and German Democratic Republic (East German). [Agreement in English French Khmer]
• March 27, 1980 US Rep. Heckler introduces H.CON.RES.310
• May 7, 1980 US Rep. Wolf introduces H.CON.RES.329
• June 10, 1980 A rebel group attacked a crowded passenger train, killing at least 150 people and wounding more than 200 others.
• June 23, 1980 Vietnamese troops in Cambodia crossed the border in Thailand and clashed with Thai troops, killing more than 30 Thai soldiers and wounding some 100 others. Vietnamese was reported to stay in Thai territory for about 10 hours.
• June 25, 1980 China warned Vietnam to halt its raids into Thailand. A Foreign Ministry statement said Peking would resolutely support Thailand's efforts to defend its sovereignty. US Secretary of State Edmund Muskie denounced Vietnam's actions, saying Hanoi threatened the peace, security and stability of the entire region.
• July 5, 1980 The US began airlifting arms to Thailand in an effort to enhance Thai military stationed along the Thai-Cambodian border. The airlift began soon following repeated incursions into Thailand by Vietnamese forces in Cambodia. The Soviet Union denounced the airlift, saying it would only aggravate tensions in Southeast Asia.
• Oct. 13, 1980 Khmer Rouge kept UN seat. The UN General Assembly voted, 74 to 35 with 32 abstentions, to defeat a motion to remove the Khmer Rouge's representative from the UN. The Assembly had defeated a similar move in 1979.
• Oct. 22, 1980 The UN General Assembly adopted a resolution A/RES/35/6 calling for the immediate withdrawal of all foreign troops from Cambodia.
• Nov. 5, 1980 The Govt. of Mongolia registered, with the UN, its objections to the signatures by DK on International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, “The Govt. of the Mongolian People’s Republic considers that only the People’s Revolutionary Council of Kampuchea as the sole authentic and lawful representative of the Kampuchean people has the right to assume international obligation on behalf of the Kampuchean people.” [14531/14668]
• Nov. 19, 1980 The People’s Revolutionary Council of Kampuchea and Czechoslovakia signed in Prague the Agreement on Cultural Co-operation between the two countries.
• Nov. 25, 1980 The PRK and Bulgaria singed in Sofia, capital of Bulgaria, a 25-year Treaty of Friendship and Co-operation. [Agreement in English Khmer]
• Dec. 11, 1980 The Govt. of German Democratic Republic (East Germany) registered, with the UN, its objection to the signature by DK govt. on International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, “The signing of the above-said convention on behalf of the so-called Govt. of DK, a criminal clique of stooges which was overthrown by the people of Kampuchea, in the opinion of the German Democratic Republic is unlawful and, therefore, null and void.”  The GDR also, on same day, registered its objection to the DK’s signature on International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.