SUMMARY
The KPNLF (Khmer People’s National Liberation Front) was an armed group that fought an intrastate armed conflict over government against the Government of Cambodia (Kampuchea) 1979-1991. The primary objective of the KPNLF was to overthrow the Vietnamese-backed Communist KNUFNS-regime that was established in Cambodia in 1979. The group’s ideological orientation was anti-royalist and anti-Communist, and it was in favor of Western-style democracy and market economy.
KPNLF was created in October 1979 under the leadership of Son Sann, who had served as Prime Minister of Cambodia 1967-1968; the group had been nominally created in France earlier the same year. The group was created from remnants of the Khmer Serei (Free Khmer) – an anti-communist and anti-monarchist rebel movement created by Son Ngoc Thanh that had been disbanded in 1969 - and from various warlords operating along the Thai-Cambodian border. KPNLF also drew support from the Cambodian republican movement that had been involved in overthrowing Prince Sihanouk in 1970. The ambition of the group was to unite all non-communist forces against the KNUFNS-led regime that had been established in January 1979. Throughout its existence, the KPNLF suffered from disharmony within its leadership. The group itself claimed to have increased its cadre strength from 2000 in 1979, to 11 000 in 1982. However, independent estimations put the group’s strength at 3000-9000, with a number closer to the lower estimate as more plausible. The military forces of the KPNLF were organized into battalions, and the group was known for avoiding large-scale military confrontations.
For most parts of the armed conflict against the KNUFNS-led Government of Cambodia (Kampuchea) during the 1980s, the KPNLF was allied to the Khmer Rouge (KR). However, the group presented itself as a potential political alternative to KR, and aside from the use of guerilla tactics and resistance against the KNUFNS-regime, the KPNLF had little in common with KR. In 1982, KPNLF, KR, and FUNCIPEC created the Coalition Government of Democratic Kampuchea (CGDK), which claimed to be the legitimate holder of political power in Cambodia. KPNLF leader Son was named the Prime Minister of the CGDK, even if KR was the dominant party of the coalition, and in functioned as a form of “government in exile” until 1992.
China supported all three members of the CGDK with weapons such as mortars, rocket-propelled grenades, machine-guns and antitank weapons; this support was however biased towards KR. Thailand supported all of the three CGDK member groups by allowing them to cross the Thai border freely and to hide from the Vietnamese troops on Thai territory. KPNLF had access to US-made weapons, which were most likely supplied by the Thai Army. The group also maintained its headquarters and several large training camps on Thai territory. The United States provided financial support to KPNLF, but denied that any military support was given.
KPNLF was one of the signatories to the 1991 Paris Peace Accords, and it was part of the power sharing arrangement - called the “Supreme National Council” (SNC) - stipulated in the agreement. The KPNLF later transformed itself into a political party, the Buddhist Liberal Democratic Party (BLDP), and entered into constitutional politics by participating in the UN-administered 1993 elections. The BLDP agreed to enter a power sharing arrangement with the more powerful Cambodian People’s Party (CPP, see KNUFNS) and FUNCIPEC after this election.
