Will Change Tactics, Cambodian Rebel Says

Cambodian guerrilla leader Son Sann vowed Friday to switch tactics and reemphasize guerrilla war against the Vietnamese as a result of the takeover of his military headquarters at Ampil by Hanoi’s forces.

Son Sann, head of the Khmer People’s National Liberation Front, told a press conference that his guerrillas would use hit-and-run raids to inflict maximum losses on the Vietnamese.

Speaking in the Thai village of Nong Chan, four miles from the Thai-Cambodian border, he also said his forces would operate deeper in the interior rather than from fixed bases near the border.

“Our intention is not to reoccupy Ampil (base). If we can, we will. Our aim is to inflict maximum casualties on the Vietnamese without loss to ourselves,” he said.

He said the change in strategy is necessary because the Liberation Front does not have the means to fight a conventional war against the Vietnamese army.

‘We Change Everything’ “Now we change everything-- tactics, headquarters,” he said. We will have to take off from the border. We have to go inside to liberate our country.”

Son Sann’s Khmer People’s National Liberation Front is part of a coalition battling the Cambodian government installed by Vietnam. Besides the Liberation Front, the coalition includes the Communist Khmer Rouge who were driven from power in early 1979 by the Vietnamese invasion, and followers of former head of state Prince Norodom Sihanouk. The Liberation Front has suffered a series of setbacks from the better-armed Vietnamese army since its annual dry season offensive against the guerrillas started in mid-November.

Base a Model City Son Sann, in his first meeting with the press since the fall of his Ampil headquarters to Vietnamese troops on Tuesday, said he was very sorry to lose the base in western Cambodia near the Thai border. He said he personally gave the order to abandon the base because he did not want the resistance fighters killed by Vietnam’s superior firepower.

Son Sann said 3,000 Vietnamese troops went into the attack on Ampil, backed by heavy mortar and artillery fire and T-54 tanks. He said the guerrillas destroyed eight tanks and disabled six others.

Son Sann said Ampil had been established as a model city to show foreign backers that the Liberation Front has the organizational and administrative ability to run Cambodia effectively when the Vietnamese leave.

He said guerrilla casualties at Ampil were light and the main force is intact.

Asked if he expects more arms shipments from China, he said, “I know China will help us.” He also said Thailand helps the Liberation Front. “When we need something they help us,” he said.

Flags and markers were planted along an anti-tank ditch adjacent to Ampil on Thursday to mark the boundary between Thailand and Cambodia and avert possible clashes between Thai and Vietnamese troops.