SUMMARY
The FUNCINPEC (Front uni national pour un Cambodge indépendent, neutre, pacifique et coopératif; alternatively United National Front for an Independent, Neutral, Peaceful and Cooperative Cambodia) was a rebel group that fought an intrastate armed conflict over government against the Government of Cambodia (Kampuchea) from 1982 to 1991, and in 1997. The group was opposed to the Vietnamese-backed Government of Cambodia (Kampuchea) that ousted Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge (KR) in 1979.
Prince Norodom Sihanouk, the former ruler of Cambodia (Kampuchea) who had been ousted in a military coup in 1970, created FUNCINPEC in March 1981; Sihanouk had held the positions of king, Prime Minister, and Head of State prior to 1970. The primary goal of FUNCINPEC was to overthrow the Communist Government of Cambodia (Kampuchea), and its ideological direction was royalist and anti-Communist.
Prince Sihanouk ceded the leadership of FUNCIPEC to his son Prince Norodom Ranariddh in 1991, in order to assume the position as head of a power-sharing arrangement (see below). He reassumed his position as Cambodia’s Head of State in 1993.
The armed wing of the FUNCINPEC, Armee Nationale Sihanoukiste (ANS), was created in 1981, and it was composed of various smaller forces belonging to Sihanoukist warlords (such as MOULINAKA, Mouvement pour la Liberation Nationale du Kampuchea). There was no reliable specific estimation of FUNCINPEC’s troop size between 1982 and 1987. Estimations ranged from less than 1000 to about 9000; the lower figure was provided by contemporary Thai sources, while the higher number came from the group itself. Between 1988 and 1991, it was estimated that the group had between 10 000 and 18 000 troops. However, it was unclear whether these figures also included personnel in non-combat roles; the FUNCINPEC itself claimed to have 20 000 fighters during this period.
In June 1982, FUNCINPEC entered into a coalition with the KR and fellow rebel group KPNLF, the so-called Coalition Government of Democratic Kampuchea (CGDK). The CGDK, formally under the leadership of Prince Sihanouk, claimed to be a “government in exile” that challenged the political legitimacy of the Communist regime; for example, the United Nations annually recognized the legitimacy of the CGDK 1982-1989. While formally under Prince Sihanouk’s leadership, the CGDK was politically and militarily dominated by the KR.
China supported FUNCINPEC, as a member of CGDK, with weapons such as mortars, rocket-propelled grenades, machine-guns and antitank weapons. Although all members of the CGDK received such support, FUNCINPEC received less than the KR. Similarly, Thailand allowed FUNCINPEC, as well as the other CGDK member groups, to cross the Thai border freely and hide from the Vietnamese troops on Thai territory. Vietnam had invaded Cambodia in 1978 to support the KNUFNS’s overthrow of the KR provided financial support to FUNCINPEC, but denied that any military support was given.
After signing the 1991 Paris Peace Accords, FUNCINPEC entered a power-sharing arrangement called the “Supreme National Council” (SNC) with the Government of Cambodia (Kampuchea), KPNLF, and KR. As such, it became part of the Government of Cambodia (Kampuchea). By 1993, FUNCINPEC participated in constitutional politics, and it became the largest party following the 1993 parliamentary elections (for more information on FUNCINPEC from 1993 onwards, please consult the Government of Cambodia (Kampuchea) actor page). Aside from the clashes with the government in 1997, FUNCINPEC has functioned as a political party since 1993.
