IN CAMBODIA
suspected that many newsmen were intelligence agents. I was allowed to photograph
them freely and they never made any attempt
to take my film or cameras, although the
French authorities did seize film belonging to
AP, CBS and other agencies.
When we were running out o{ water, and
drippings of water from the embassy air
conditioners were not sufficient, the Khmer
Rouge allowed me and other journalists
outside the compound to get water from an
open pump near a deserted bus station. Yet the
French ordered us not to go outside or
fraternize with the Khmer Rouge. On one
occasion two Khmer Rouge troops visited us at
the journalists' compound, chatting for several
hours. A French security official came and told
them to get out, although we wanted them to
stay.
During the traumatic days that followed
their victory, I saw the Khmer Rouge force all
inhabitants of Phnom Penh to leave the city
and empty all shops of their supplies. Khmer
Rouge troops explained to me that they would
be allowed to return after they spent some time
in the country growing rice to feed the people.
Many merchants were obviously upset with
having their shops seized and being forced to
go out into the country and grow rice, but the
Khmer Rouge said they had to take these
drastic steps to save the country.
In the past, the city of Phn!)m Penh, which
had swollen to almost two million from 600,000
because of the massive bombing of free-fire
zones by the Lon Nol army, had faced near
starvation. Only the airlift of rice by Americans
had prevented full-scale starvation. So the
Khmer Rouge decided to put people in Phnom
Penh to work in the fields to avoid starvation.
Conditions at the French embassy, crammed
with 1,000 refugees of various nationalities,