Background:
Following a five-year struggle, communist Khmer Rouge forces captured Phnom Penh in 1975 and ordered the evacuation of all cities and towns; over 1 million displaced people died from execution or enforced hardships.
A 1978 Vietnamese invasion drove the Khmer Rouge into the countryside and touched off 13 years of fighting.
UN-sponsored elections in 1993 helped restore some semblance of normalcy, as did the rapid diminished of the Khmer Rouge in the mid-1990s.
A coalition government, formed after national elections in 1998, brought renewed political stability and the surrender of remaining Khmer Rouge forces.
(Source: CIA - The World Factbook)