Nong Samet Refugee Camp (, also known as 007, Rithisen or Rithysen), in Nong Samet Village, Khok Sung District, Sa Kaeo Province, Thailand, was a refugee camp on the Thai-Cambodian border and served as a power base for the Khmer People's National Liberation Front (KPNLF) until its destruction by the Vietnamese military in late 1984.

Establishment of the camp

Refugees began entering Thailand in large numbers after Vietnam invaded Kampuchea in December 1978 and forced the Khmer Rouge out of power.Mason, Linda and Brown, Roger, Rice, Rivalry and Politics: Managing Cambodian Relief. Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press, 1983, pp. 12-15. A refugee settlement was established near the Thai village of Ban Nong Samet sometime in May 1979, and received its first shipment of food aid on 11 October.

The camp was originally referred to as Chumrum Thmei ('New Camp') to distinguish it from its neighbor and rival Mak Mun Camp, which was also known as Chumrum Chas ('Old Camp'). Nong Samet was later renamed "007" "because of its many intrigues"Stone, S. C. S. and McGowan J. E., Wrapped in the Wind's Shawl: Refugees of Southeast Asia and the Western World, Presidio Press, San Rafael, California 1980, p. 21. and in August 1980 was christened Rithysen, after a Khmer folk hero "who survived when his brothers and sisters were devoured through the machinations of a cannibal ogress, and who then tricked the ogress' daughter."Carney, Timothy M. Kampuchea, Balance of Survival. Bangkok: DD Books, 1981, p. 56.

Domination by Cambodian warlords

Nong Samet Refugee Camp was originally just inside the Thai border, about one kilometer northeast of Mak Mun and two kilometers northeast of Nong Chan Refugee Camp. Almost immediately all three camps were dominated by autonomous warlords who, with several hundred undisciplined and badly-equipped guerrillas, controlled commercial activities and managed food distribution to the civilian population.

The camp's first leader was Long Rithia, a former infantry captain in the Khmer National Armed Forces (FANK) 7th Division who rallied several hundred soldiers from that unit and on 5 October established the Angkor National Liberation Movement (also referred to as Khmer Angkor).Burgess, John, "Largest 'City' of Cambodians Shelters Refugees, Rebels," The Washington Post, Nov 4, 1979 p. A15.

In December 1979, In-Sakhan, another former officer from FANK who had been living on the border since 1975, declared himself leader of Nong Samet. He quickly realized that the size of the camp's civilian population would determine his power base, and encouraged a thriving border marketplace from which smugglers brought high-demand commodities into deprived Kampuchea. Within a short time Nong Samet's market attracted thousands of traders and black marketeers, and the guides and guards needed to transport goods and cash in this nearly lawless region. Gold and precious stones often substituted for currency on the border, and In-Sakhan's soldiers frequently served as security escorts.

In-Sakhan initially reported to International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) that the camp's population was at least 200,000 and aid agencies provided food and water for 180,000 people until December 1979 when aid workers heard that much of the food was being hoarded by the warlord.UNICEF Monitoring Report, 6 March 1980. At this time the situation on the border was still too chaotic to do a proper census or to challenge In-Sakhan.

Rivalry with neighboring camps

Rivalry with neighboring camps Nong Chan and Mak Mun led to frequent armed violence. In-Sakhan also had to defend the camp against the Khmer Rouge, who launched an attack on 4 January 1980 from nearby Phnom Chat.Durant, Thomas S., "Attack on 007 (Nong Samet), 4 January 1980," in Years of Horror, Days of Hope, B.S. Levy and D.C. Susott, eds., 1986, 137-40 The camp was evacuated but the refugees quickly returned.

In late January 1980, ICRC and UNICEF attempted to bypass In-Sakhan and distribute food directly to Nong Samet's population (which they now estimated at 60,000), however without the warlord's cooperation this proved nearly impossible. In addition, it appeared that many Nong Samet residents were forced to go to Nong Chan to receive food because their rations were being confiscated by In-Sakhan's troops.

Accordingly, in late February 1980 aid agencies stopped distributing food in Nong Samet altogether. Two weeks later, UNICEF conducted a nutrition survey and found widespread levels of malnutrition, stunting and hunger in the camp population. ICRC decided to try direct distribution to locked warehouses inside the camp, and to allow section leaders to distribute rice to the population. A crude "hut census" of the camp was attempted, but an attack on Mak Mun Camp in late March forced several thousand refugees to flee to Nong Samet, invalidating the census.

Two days later, forces commanded by the Mak Mun warlord, Van Saren, attacked Nong Samet in retaliation. In a counterattack on 22 March, Van Saren was killed, possibly by the Thai military, and Mak Mun was closed on 11 April by the Thai government in an attempt to consolidate the population, most of which had already relocated to Nong Chan and Nong Samet.UNICEF Monitoring Report, 6 March 1980, p. 57.

In late May 1980 Nong Samet was moved to a site adjacent to the Prasaht Sdok Kok Thom, in an area with poor drainage and landmines left over from a previous conflict.Blagden, P., "The Sdok Kok Thom Integrated Demining Project," Journal of Mine Action, Issue 8.1, June 2004, p. 54

Incorporation into the KPNLF

On July 12, 1980, troops commanded by Ung Chan Don, In-Sakhan's former ally, attacked Nong Samet and drove In-Sakhan to Aranyaprathet, where "on a calm Sunday evening, In-Sakhan surrendered to the Thai Third Infantry Battalion."Stone and McGowan, p. 22. He later joined Prince Norodom Sihanouk's Armée Nationale Sihanoukiste (ANS) forces.Corfield J. J. "A History of the Cambodian Non-Communist Resistance, 1975-1983." Clayton, Vic., Australia: Centre of Southeast Asian Studies, Monash University, 1991, p. 12. In-Sakhan was replaced by Om Luot (also known as Ta Luot or Siem Sam On)Bekaert, J., "Kampuchea: The Year of the Nationalists?" Southeast Asian Affairs, Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Singapore (1983), pp. 169. with Thou Thon acting as civilian administrator. Om Luot had declared his loyalty to the KPNLF in February 1979, but tensions with General Dien Del and General Sak Sutsakhan eventually led to Om Luot's murder on October 11, 1982.Bekaert, 1983, p. 169. After this, Thou Thon became chief administrator of the camp. Nong Samet Camp soon became a primary recruiting location for Khmer People's National Liberation Armed Forces troops.Radu M, Arnold A. The New Insurgencies: Anticommunist Guerrillas in the Third World. New Brunswick, N.J.: Transaction Publishers, 1990, p. 31.

Thou Thon's leadership

Thou Thon was a model of strong yet considerate civilian leadership at a time when warlords controlled most of the border refugee population. According to Linda Mason and Roger Brown, who knew him in 1980:

The Khmer refugees in Nong Samet Camp owed much to him. He had organized the camp—building roads, digging ditches, cleaning up. He had eliminated much of the thievery that had kept the refugees nervous and frightened. He had helped organize an efficient distribution system so that everyone received rice… He was a hard worker… When he had organized the building of the feeding center, he did not just tell people what to do, he climbed up on the roof and started nailing down the lattice work on which the thatch would be placed. When ditches were dug, he was there with a hoe.

Thou Thon's brother Colonel Thou Thip had co-founded the KPNLF in Paris in 1978, together with Son Sann and Dien Del among others. Thou Thon also had a brother and a sister in New Zealand but he refused to accept their sponsorship offers. Unlike Thou Thip, Thou Thon maintained at best only a lukewarm relationship with Son Sann.Crossette B. "After the killing fields: Cambodia's forgotten refugees." New York Times Magazine, 1988;26:17-68.

In 1983, at a time when Nong Samet was being terrorized nightly by violent acts of banditry, local policing was so ineffective that the bandits could brag about their exploits in the marketplace. Finally, after a particularly blatant act of violence, three bandits who had identified themselves in the market the day before were found with their throats cut at the edge of the camp. Banditry decreased significantly in camp after this. Thou Thon thus demonstrated his willingness to use summary execution as a means of maintaining order. This sent a message to the camp population as much as it did to would-be bandits, that security was a priority and that it would be enforced.French LC. Enduring Holocaust, Surviving History: Displaced Cambodians on the Thai-Camobodian Border, 1989-1991. Harvard University, 1994, pp. 176-77.

Thou Thon continued to administer Nong Samet after the camp was incorporated into Site Two in 1985.

Camp relocation in 1983

The entire camp was moved again in January 1983 to somewhat higher ground just east of the village of Ban Nong Samet, on land considered to be on the Cambodian side of the border. This move was precipitated by accusations that Thailand was harboring anti-communist guerrillas on its territory, thereby aggravating the already complex political situation.Robinson C. Terms of refuge: the Indochinese exodus & the international response. London; New York, New York: Zed Books; Distributed in the USA exclusively by St. Martin's Press, 1998, p. 75.

Camp population

Nong Samet's official population estimate in 1979 was over 100,000, a figure that William ShawcrossShawcross W. The Quality of Mercy: Cambodia, Holocaust, and Modern Conscience. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1984, p. 241. gives credence to, but Mason and Brown calculate that it probably fluctuated between 48,000 and 60,000. The American Refugee Committee's 1983 Annual Report numbered the population at "between 45,000 and 70,000," based on food distribution statistics, immunization records, and birth and death tallies,Mastro, T., "Nong Samet 1983 Annual Report," American Refugee Committee, Minneapolis, 1984, p. 1. however this did not include KPNLF troops, who were exempt from aid, and may have constituted an additional 8,000 men.

Vietnamese refugees at NW82

As of December 18, 1981, Nong Samet became home to about 700 Vietnamese refugees who were transferred from a special camp for "land refugees" who had crossed Cambodia from Vietnam and entered Thailand. They had been transferred from the nearby camp of NW9 and were housed in a separate section known as NW82 or 'the platform' because of a wooden platform built to keep the population off the swampy ground. By September 1982 there were more than 1,800 refugees in the crowded and unsanitary camp. Initially Thailand prevented foreign embassies from interviewing these refugees, however after repeated requests by the ICRC, this policy was reversed. The Intergovernmental Committee for Migration conducted preliminary screening of the 1,804 NW82 Vietnamese and coordinated efforts of the 15 countries willing to offer resettlement to the refugees. By January 28, 1983, when the first round of processing was completed, 1,713 of the refugees had received resettlement offers. The United States accepted just over 60 percent.

On February 9, 1983, NW82 was closed, and the remaining 122 occupants without resettlement offers were transferred temporarily to the Khao-I-Dang Holding Center.

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