Power struggles, war and genocide have devastated the Kingdom of Cambodia in recent decades. After French colonization, a pro-western Prime Minister Lon Nol seized power and his opponents went into hiding and formed the Communist Khmer Rouge.
Following the withdrawal of US troops from Vietnam in 1975, Pol Pot (their leader) and his followers evacuated all cities and towns; for the next 5 years between 1.5 and 3 million people died from execution, enforced hardships or starvation. The legacy is a very poor country where 50% of its inhabitants are under the age of 18.
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