{{Short description|Alleged political movement in Cambodia}} {{Infobox war faction |name = Mouvement National |native_name = MONATIO |native_name_lang = |war = Cambodian Civil War |image = 200px |caption = Flag used by MONATIO |active = 17 April 1975 |ideology = Khmer nationalism |leaders = |headquarters = |area = |predecessor = |opponents = {{flagicon|Democratic Kampuchea}} Khmer Rouge |battles = Fall of Phnom Penh |status = |founders= }} thumb|MONATIO militias parading in Phnom Penh '''MONATIO''', short for '''Mouvement National''' ({{Literal translation|National Movement}}), was a short-lived, supposedly nationalist, political faction in Cambodia. The exact nature of the group is still obscure. On April 17, 1975, as the Khmer Rouge had entered Phnom Penh, this group took out a motor-cavalcade on the streets of the capital welcoming the arrival of the Khmer Rouge.<ref name=Ponchaud>{{cite book|last=Ponchaud|first=François|title=Cambodia Year Zero|publisher=Henry Holt & Co|year=1978|isbn=9780030403064|page=17}}</ref>
The group consisted of a handful of soldiers, dressed in black uniforms, accompanied by a number of students. MONATIO was headed by student leader Hem Keth Dara and the whole group in turn manipulated by Lon Non, brother of Lon Nol.<ref name=Ponchaud/><ref name=Shawcross>{{cite book|title=Sideshow: Kissinger, Nixon and the Destruction of Cambodia|last=Shawcross|first=William|publisher=Andre Deutsch Limited|year=1979|isbn=0-233-97077-0|page=365}}</ref>
Initially tolerated by the Khmer Rouge, MONATIO members were later rounded up and executed.<ref name=Shawcross/><ref>{{cite book|last=Swain|first=Jon|title=River of Time: A Memoir of Vietnam and Cambodia|publisher=St. Martin's Press|year=1997|isbn=978-0425168059|url=https://archive.org/details/riveroftime00swai|pages=136–7}}</ref> The Khmer Rouge later claimed that MONATIO had been a CIA conspiracy against the revolutionary government.<ref>{{cite book|last=Isaacs|first=Arnold R.|title=Without Honor: Defeat in Vietnam and Cambodia|publisher=JHU Press|year=1999|isbn=9780801861079|page=283}}</ref>
A movie on the events of 1975, called ''MONATIO'', was made by Norodom Sihanouk.<ref>[http://www.norodomsihanouk.info/mes2006/octobre/textes/0510/0510txt5.htm New Page 5<!-- Bot generated title -->] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090109141318/http://www.norodomsihanouk.info/mes2006/octobre/textes/0510/0510txt5.htm |date=2009-01-09 }}</ref>
== References == {{reflist}}
==External links== * {{commonscat-inline}}
Category:Cambodian nationalism Category:Political history of Cambodia Category:Factions of the Vietnam War Category:Rebel groups in Cambodia