Cambodia

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Cambodia lies in Southeast Asia. The country was a part of French Indochina up until 1953 where the country obtained full independence.

The country has a constitutional monarchy led by Norodom Sihamoni who has been on the throne since 2004. During the Vietnam War, both, the Americans and the Vietnamese had interest in Cambodia. Thus, a period under the terror regime of Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge was a fact and up to 1.5 million innocent people lost their lives. Towards the end of the 1980s, Vietnam invaded the country in order to expel the Khmer Rouge, and ended up staying for about 10 years until a peace accord in 1991 sent Vietnam out of the country. Elections in 1993 were the first steps towards peaceful times for the troubled country, and the last remaining Khmer Rouge elements surrendered in 1999.

The country has natural resources within bauxite, gold, iron ore, precious gems and rubber trees. In addition, oil deposits have been discovered off the coast of Cambodia which can help to lift the country substantially. There is also a large textile industry. However, there still exist big problems with illegal fishing as well as illegal lumber activities that are destroying parts of the country. Large parts of the population in the countryside are lacking potable water and basic infrastructure.