p “I want to die by the graves of my ancestors,” we were told by an old peasant, dressed only in a cotton shirt. He had been forced out of the province of Swairieng to Battambang. Of the nine members of his family, only five remained alive. The younger people talk about their paddy field, about the modest home they had been made to abandon, about their present hopes, about the start of a new life under a government that intends to serve the people.

p In Neakluong, 65 miles southeast of Pnom Penh, the ferry that crosses the deep Mekong River has docked. The river crossing connects the western part of Kampuchea with the eastern. As the people disembark, the commander of the liberation forces in Neakluong, who is standing next to me, hands them small brochures with an appeal from the People’s Revolutionary Council. There are not enough of them to go around, however. Those who did not receive one are assured that they will get one later. Many immediately read the message from the new government that emerged out of the resistance movement against the Pol Pot regime.

p An officer guarding this important crossing with his men patiently answers the people’s questions, and gives directions on how to get to their native villages, indicating which bridges had been rebuilt by the Revolutionary Armed Forces. “The people who are returning and who have already returned home are our friends and comrades-in-arms,” he says. “On a number of occasions citizens have informed us about agents trying to hide in the flow of people returning. Everyone hates the cutthroats of the overturned regime.” In Preyveng, 30 kilometres to the northwest, our group of journalists from socialist countries was received in the premises of the people’s committee of the same province by key representatives of the new government. The flag of the People’s Republic of Kampuchea hung at the front of the hall. Soldiers of the liberation army, armed with machine guns, formed a guard of honour for the guests, the first citizens from the fraternal countries who had come to the 162 province in the six weeks since liberation. Young girls, members of a youth organisation that is just taking shape, served us tea. People’s Committee Chairman Sa Mon, Deputy Chairman Stang Chin, who is also responsible for administrative matters, and security chief Sa Rua spoke to us.

p “If you take a look at our town,” Sa Mon said, “you will see that everything was mercilessly destroyed by the Pol Pot gang: homes, rooms, furniture, workshops and even the few cars we had. We are trying to put everything back in order and find lodgings in neighbouring villages for returning people. Everything is in short supply. Our province, in which peaceful and upright people lived, was almost completely depopulated as a result of the deportation. The inhabitants of other outlying areas were forced into camps set up here. The Pol Pot regime turned our district into a huge concentration camp, into a common grave for many thousands of people. Schools and markets were closed; everyone, including pregnant women and children, had to work until they dropped. Any protest or attempt to escape was punished by torture, death and reprisals against all the members of one’s family.”

According to officials, forty per cent of the former population of Preyveng Province perished, yet this figure may prove conservative after further investigations in the next few days and weeks.