July 31, 1978: “The enormity of the crime has been carefully reconstructed from eyewitness reports… the lowest estimate of the bloodbath to date – by execution, starvation, & disease – is in the hundreds of thousands,” writes Aikman in Cambodia: An Experiment in Genocide @TIME

July 29, 1978: Speaking at the meeting of nonaligned nations in Belgrade, Khmer Rouge FM IENG Sary calls for the expulsion of expansionist Vietnam. Meanwhile Prince Sihanouk, he said, was now permitted to travel inside Cambodia & spends “very little time in Phnom Penh.” July 30, 1978: A delegation of the Danish Communist Workers’ Party, led by Peter Bischoff, while in Beijing, received a surprise invitation to tour Cambodia for a week. Unusually they meet Khmer Rouge Nr. 2 Nuon Chea, who tells them the history of the Cambodian Communist party. https://t.co/cyG8vLoGWB

July 29, 1978: Khmer Rouge Defence Minister Son Sen arrives in Peking to seek China’s military commitment against Vietnam. The Chinese leaders advise him to begin preparations for a protracted guerrilla war by digging tunnels, setting up arms caches, and mobilizing the masses. July 29, 1978: More than 300 Cambodians flee to Thailand, taking advantage of laxer security by the Khmer Rouge due to IENG Sary’s visit. @Refugees says another reason is that the KR started purging the relatives of those who have already fled Cambodia.

July 24, 1978: @nytimes reports that Cambodian refugees in Thailand will face difficulties in beeing admitted to the US, as few can qualify under the priority given by the State Department to refugees with close kin the US or a record of service to the US Government.

July 21, 1978: Indonesia envisions normal relations with Cambodia, where the Indonesian ambassador in Bangkok would have dual accreditation to🇰🇭. “We won’t send one of our diplomats into house arrest in Phnom Penh.” Indonesia wants to receive Khmer Rouge FM Ieng Sary soon. July 21, 1978: In a note to @UN the Khmer Rouge reject charges of mass violations of human rights by assuring that it “does not murder,” but pursues “a noble goal by serving the people on the basis of just policies.” It accuses🇬🇧of “odious interference” for its report to the UN.