On April 17 1975 the city of Phnom Penh fell to the forces of the Khmer Rouge. Soon the brutality of the new administration became apparent. To mark the 22nd anniversary, OMF is publishing a new book by Don Cormack which chronicles the suffering of the Cambodian church. Here we print an extract.
A refugee report from a village in Siem Riep province tells of the death of Haim, a Christian teacher, and his family . . .
Unmistakably, through the tremulous glare of the early afternoon sun and his own light-headedness from the back-breaking labour, Haim knew that the youthful black-clad Khmer Rouge soldiers now heading across the field were coming this time for him. It was the hour when they always came, these brutish servants of Angka Loeu (The Organisation on High), dispatched to cull yet more of Cambodia's grovelling minions lingering in this particular twilight zone of the nationwide death camp.