But life was difficult in Svay Rieng. they got no help from anyone and barely made enough to eat. Then conditions this year got worse. and even Svay Rieng did not seem safe. There was fighting nearby and she moved her family to Phnom Penh where she moved into a refugee house of a friend. Mr. President. over the past 3 year. these stories have been repeated countless times. Each day of the war ha. brought more refugees into constantl3 smaller areas controlled by the Govern. ment. and uncounted numbers in othel areas outside of Government control. As in South Vietnam. most people hav crowded into the provincial towns an( into the capitol city to avoid the flghtinj and bombing. Surely. as the refugee woman said "it is better to live near the cannon than out in the field where it fires." The effect of the war on Cambodia. as in South Vietnam. is to push the countryside into the city. A rural people. once selfsufficient. are being forced into a false urban situation for which they are totally unprepared and where work and food are desperately short. A nation. once selfsufficient in rice production. now faces severe food shortages and the prospect of famine. even though the United States now provides threefourths of all the rice consumed in Cambodia.
Keywords matched
refugee refugees