KHMER ISSARAK

(Khmer: Independent Cambodians), an anti-French nationalist movement organized in Cambodia in 1946. It quickly split into factions, and by the time of independence in 1953 all but one of these were incorporated into Prince Norodom Sihanouk's political structure. The dissident group, under Son Ngoc Thanh, became known as the Khmer Serei (Free Cambodians) and fought Sihanouk from 1959 to 1970.