Son Sann

Came from a noble landowning family. Born in the family of a royal official at the court of Sisovat Monivong . He studied in France , in 1933 he graduated from the Commercial School in Paris ^[1] . He spent some time in the UK , studied English in London .

In 1935, Son Sann returned to Cambodia and until 1939 served as vice governor in the provinces of Battambang and Preywang ^[1] . Then he was engaged in business for several years, was a member of the Cambodian delegation at trade negotiations with Japan , was the economic adviser to the king Norod Sihanouk .

Son Sann was a prominent figure in the center-left Democratic Party . In 1946, he was appointed Minister of Finance in the government of Prince Sisovat Moniret . In 1949, he took the post of Vice Chairman of the Council of Ministers of Cambodia, in 1950 became Minister of Foreign Affairs. In 1951, Son Sann was elected to the National Assembly of Cambodia . He left the Democratic Party and in 1955 was a member of the Sangkum party of “Royal Socialism”, which was led by Norodom Sihanouk.

On January 16, 1958, Son Sann again took up the post of Minister of Finance in the office of Penn Noot , and on July 10 of the same year he entered the government of Prince Norodom Sihanouk (abdicated). He served as Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs. In this capacity , he paid a visit to the USSR on September 2, 1959 ^[1] . In 1964 - 1966, Son Sann was the head of the National Bank of Cambodia .

From April 1967 to January 1968, Son Sann led the Cambodian government. The former and future monarch Norod Sihanouk was then the elected head of state. At the same time, despite the political alliance and official subordination, the relationship between Son Sann and Sihanouk was very complex and controversial.

On March 18, 1970, right - wing anti - communist forces led by General Lon Nol , dissatisfied with the leftist bias in Sihanouk's politics, carried out a coup d'etat . Sihanouk, who was on a visit to the PRC, was removed from power. Son Sann, as his close associate, was placed under house arrest, then deported to France.

In June 1970, Song Sann arrived in Beijing , where he tried to mediate and reconcile Sihanouk with the new Lon Nol regime. This mission failed. On October 9, 1970, under the leadership of Lon Nol, the Khmer Republic was proclaimed, which meant a final break with the “royal socialism” of Sihanouk.

In April 1975, the Khmer Rouge Pol Pot came to power in Cambodia. The totalitarian regime of Democratic Kampuchea was established, pursuing a policy of genocide . This period Son Sann spent in France. In 1978, he began to consolidate Cambodian anti-communist emigration groups.

In January 1979, the Pol Pot regime was overthrown as a result of the Vietnamese intervention. Another communist group headed by Heng Samrin , oriented to Vietnam and the USSR, came to power. Son Sann and his supporters did not recognize the new NRC regime.

At the very beginning of 1979, on the initiative of Son Sann, a Committee for a neutral and peaceful Cambodia was established. Since February 1979, the Armed Forces of the National Liberation of the Khmer people were formed under the command of General Dien Del . On October 9, 1979, Son Sann founded the Anti-Communist National Liberation Front of the Khmer People ( KPNLF ). He held a series of intensive negotiations in the United States , Western Europe and Thailand , with the support of official authorities and influential circles.

To effectively fight the pro-Vietnamese government, they went closer to their recent opponents, the Khmer Rouge. A coalition of Son Sann, Sihanouk and Pol Pot groups has developed. In this coalition, the Polpot troops were the main armed force, the Sonsannians had the most effective political ties in the West, and the Sihanoukites had traditional legitimacy. At the same time, all coalition members were among themselves in difficult hostile relations and rallied only by the presence of a common enemy ^[2] .

In 1982, the Coalition Government of Democratic Kampuchea was created, led by Son Sann. It was it that enjoyed international recognition and until 1990 represented Cambodia at the UN . In the second half of the 1980s, Son Sannu, with the support of the influential neoconservative Heritage Foundation, was able to establish agreements with the Ronald Reagan administration . In accordance with the Reagan Doctrine, the non-communist part of the Cambodian resistance began to receive American assistance ^[3] . The first subsidy was $ 5 million. Upon returning from the United States in early 1986, Son Sann said: "The work is done, the crane is open." This was facilitated by the ideological orientation of Song Sann and KPNLF on the principles of Western democracy and free enterprise ^[4] .

Since 1989, Vietnam and the NRC authorities have been forced to negotiate peace with the opposition. In 1991, the Paris Agreements were concluded, providing for the restoration of the royal monarchy, the return to the throne of Norodom Sihanouk and the holding of free elections. The country was returned the name of Cambodia.

Son Sann returned to Phnom Penh and became involved in Cambodian politics. On the basis of the KPNLF, he established the Buddhist Liberal Democratic Party (BLDP), which received 3.8% of the vote and 10 parliamentary seats in the National Assembly in the 1993 elections. Son Sann also became a deputy, from June to October 1993 he was chairman of the National Assembly. In the new government, Norodom Ranarita - Hun Sena Song Sung received the post of minister without a portfolio . Son Sann was also an adviser to King Sihanouk. However, the political regime did not correspond to the ideas of Song Sann, as former communists continued to play a prominent role in it.

In 1995, a conflict broke out between the BLDP and Son Sann and Ieng Mauli , who held the government post of Information Minister. The pragmatic politician Ieng Mauli opposed the tough anti-Vietnamese course of Son Sann. Both figures expelled each other from the party. On July 9, 1995, a congress was held which was boycotted by the Son Sanna group. Ieng Mauli was unanimously elected chairman of the BLDP ^[5] . The conflict continued, and in the fall it took on harsh forms - right up to the terrorist attack on supporters of Song Sann on September 30, 1995, as a result of which dozens of people were injured ^[6] . Son Sann left the party, established a new organization of his own name, and soon left Cambodia.

In 1997 he moved to Paris, where he lived with his family. He died of heart failure at the age of 89 years ^[7] . Ashes Son Sanna is buried in a memorial in the province of Kandal . The cremation ceremony was attended by King Sihanouk and Queen Monineat.

Son Sann was married, had seven children. One of his sons, Son Saubert, is known as an archaeologist.

All his life, Son Sann followed a Buddhist worldview and ethics. Being the organizer of the armed struggle, he himself, by his own admission, never in his life carried weapons ^[8] .