Anlong Veng (, ) is a district (''

srok Administrative divisions of the Kingdom of Cambodia have several levels. Cambodia is divided into 24 provinces (''khaet''; ) and the special administrative unit and capital of Phnom Penh. Though a different administrative unit, Phnom Penh is ...

'') in

Oddar Meanchey province Oddar Meanchey (, UNGEGN: ''Ŏttâr Méanchoăy'', ALA-LC: ''Uttar Mānjăy'' ; ) is a province of Cambodia in the remote northwest. It borders the provinces of Banteay Meanchey to the west, Siem Reap to the south and Preah Vihear to the east ...

Cambodia Cambodia, officially the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. It is bordered by Thailand to the northwest, Laos to the north, and Vietnam to the east, and has a coastline ...

. The main town in the district is also called Anlong Veng. The population of the district could not be counted during the 1998 census of Cambodia due to ongoing conflict during the time of the census. It is estimated that 35% of the population in Anlong Veng were former

Khmer Rouge The Khmer Rouge is the name that was popularly given to members of the Communist Party of Kampuchea (CPK), and by extension to Democratic Kampuchea, which ruled Cambodia between 1975 and 1979. The name was coined in the 1960s by Norodom Sihano ...

soldiers including the

Maoist Maoism, officially Mao Zedong Thought, is a variety of Marxism–Leninism that Mao Zedong developed while trying to realize a socialist revolution in the agricultural, pre-industrial society of the Republic of China (1912–1949), Republic o ...

dictator

Pol Pot Pol Pot (born Saloth Sâr; 19 May 1925 – 15 April 1998) was a Cambodian politician, revolutionary, and dictator who ruled the communist state of Democratic Kampuchea from 1976 until Cambodian–Vietnamese War, his overthrow in 1979. During ...

(''Saloth Sâr'').

Geographic data

Anlong Veng is in the area of the Dângrêk Mountains, in the far north of Cambodia. It is located 125 km north of

Siem Reap Siem Reap (, ) is the second-largest city of Cambodia, as well as the capital and largest city of Siem Reap Province in northwestern Cambodia. Siem Reap possesses French-colonial and Chinese-style architecture in the Old French Quarter ...

and close to the international border crossing with

Thailand Thailand, officially the Kingdom of Thailand and historically known as Siam (the official name until 1939), is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. With a population of almost 66 million, it spa ...

. There is a dam just north of the town.

History

Anlong Veng is best known for two historical reasons. It was the last stronghold of the

to come under government control in 1998 and the final resting place of Pol Pot. The Dângrêk Mountains were used as a base by the Khmer Rouge when they fought against the

Khmer Republic The Khmer Republic (, ; ) was a Cambodian state under the United States-backed military dictatorship of Marshal Lon Nol from 1970 to 1975. Its establishment was formally declared on 9 October 1970, following the 18 March 1970 coup d'état w ...

led by general

Lon Nol Marshal Lon Nol (, also ; 13 November 1913 – 17 November 1985) was a Cambodian military officer and politician who served as Prime Minister of Cambodia twice (1966–67; 1969–71), as well as serving repeatedly as defence minister and provi ...

. After the end of the Vietnamese occupation of Cambodia and the withdrawal of the Vietnamese army, the Khmer Rouge rebuilt their former bases in the Dangrek mountain range area, along the border of Thailand. Anlong Veng became for a while the main "capital" of the Khmer Rouge. In the 1990s the Khmer Rouge still controlled Anlong Veng, where there was one of the first "Killing Fields" after the fall of "

Democratic Kampuchea Democratic Kampuchea was the official name of the Cambodian state from 1976 to 1979, under the government of Pol Pot and the Communist Party of Kampuchea (CPK), commonly known as the Khmer Rouge. The Khmer Rouge's capture of the capital Phno ...

". There is a still not excavated site in a forest with landmines in the Dângrêk Mountains, located about 6 km out of Anlong Veng where 3,000 people were allegedly killed by the Khmer Rouge for having become "corrupted" as late as between 1993 and 1997. These executions were carried out during Ta Mok's leadership in the area.

Administration

The following table shows the villages of Anlong Veng district by commune.

Development

Prime-minister Hun Sen'
Historical Restoration Initiative circular (Dec 2001)
called for the site at Anlong Veng to become a memorial and tourist site in time for the Visit Cambodia year in 2003. The town is seen by the government as a useful stopping point for tours from Siem Riep to the 11th-century temples at Preah Vihear. The site has had minor tourist developments including museums, hotels and a casino.

References

External links

History and Development
{{Districts of Cambodia Districts of Oddar Meanchey province