Heng Samrin


Heng Samrin

(hĕng säm`rĭn), 1934–, Cambodian politician. He was president of Cambodia from 1979 to 1991 and headed the Communist party from 1981 to 1991. A regimental commander of the Khmer RougeKhmer Rouge
, name given to native Cambodian Communists. Khmer Rouge soldiers, aided by North Vietnamese and Viet Cong troops, began a large-scale insurgency against government forces in 1970, quickly gaining control over more than two thirds of the country.
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 during the civil war (1970–75), he sought refuge in Vietnam from Pol Pot's purges (1977). Returning to lead the uprising, he was named president of the Vietnamese-installed Cambodian government after Pol PotPol Pot,
1925–98, Cambodian political leader, originally named Saloth Sar. Paris-educated, and a Khmer Communist leader from 1960, he led Khmer Rouge guerrillas against the government of Lon Nol after 1970.
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's overthrow (1979). He faced continued armed resistance from the Khmer Rouge and other forces and failed to gain widespread diplomatic recognition. In 1985 he lost power to Hun Sen, the new premier, but he remained head of state until Norodom SihanoukSihanouk, Norodom
, 1922–2012, king of Cambodia (1941–55, 1993–2004), b. Phnom Penh. Sihanouk was educated in Saigon (now Ho Chi Minh City) and Paris and was elected king by a royal council in 1941.
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's return in 1991.