Editing Chea Sim (section)

==Life and career==
Chea Sim was born on 15 November 1932, in [[Romeas Haek District|Romeas Haek]], [[Svay Rieng Province]] to an ethnic Chinese family.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/tv/features/chea-sim-politician-who-left-the-khmer-rouge-and-became-a-key-figure-in-cambodia-after-the-fall-of-10327480.html |title=Chea Sim: Politician who left the Khmer Rouge and became a key figure in Cambodia after the fall of the brutal regime |work=The Independent |accessdate=21 September 2015}}</ref> As a young man, he partook in one of the first revolutionary movement by the communist Khmer People's Revolutionary Party (Khmer: គណបក្សប្រជាជនបដិវត្តន៍កម្ពុជា, KPRP), currently the ruling party of Cambodia. The movement which he joined was against Colonial France in the early 1950s. He later became a military commander of the communist [[Khmer Rouge]] even before it finally toppled the US-backed [[Lon Nol]] government in 1975.<ref name="ABCNews">{{cite news|title=Chea Sim, a Leader in Post-Khmer Rouge Cambodia, Dies at 82|url=https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/veteran-cambodia-politician-chea-sim-dies-82-31606753|accessdate=9 June 2015|agency=The Associated Press|issue=8 June 2015|publisher=ABCNews}}</ref>

Like [[Heng Samrin]] and [[Hun Sen]], he defected in 1978 from the Khmer Rouge, which was backed by [[China]], and fled to Vietnam to join an anti-Khmer Rouge movement known as a resistance faction groomed by Vietnam. He later held positions in the new party and People's Republic of Kampuchea government, installed and backed by Vietnam after it invaded Cambodia and ousted the Khmer Rouge in 1979.<ref name="ABCNews"/> He was among the founding members of the United Front for the National Salvation of Kampuchea, the Vietnam-backed group that defeated the Khmer Rouge in 1979.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Saing|first1=Soenthrith|title=CPP President Chea Sim Dead|url=https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/cpp-president-chea-sim-dead-85182/|accessdate=9 June 2015|publisher=The Cambodia Daily|date=8 June 2015}}</ref>

Chea Sim was considered an important figure when negotiations happened, resulting in the 1991 Paris Peace Accord, which brokered a deal supposed to end three decades of civil war and paved the way for the U.N.-organized elections in 1993. After the elections, even though the royalist [[FUNCINPEC]] party topped the polls at that time, [[Hun Sen]] insisted that it share power with his Cambodian People's Party, and four years later grabbed the sole power for his Cambodia People's Party.

From 6 April 1992 to 14 June 1993, Chea Sim served as the nation's interim leader (Chairman of the [[Council of State]]) before Cambodia became a [[constitutional monarchy]]. He also acted as Head of State on behalf of [[King of Cambodia|King]] [[Norodom Sihanouk]] for brief periods in 1993, 1994, 1995 and 2004. Sihanouk awarded Chea Sim the honorary title of Sâmdech in 1993.

After the King announced his permanent [[abdication]] on 7 October 2004, Chea Sim once again became acting Head of State. In the same year, he was escorted out of the country after refusing to sign off as acting head of state on changing the constitution, which would eventually help the CPP and the Funcinpec parties form a coalition government under the deal between Hun Sen and prince [[Norodom Ranariddh]].<ref name=PPP>{{cite news|last1=Cheang Sokha|first1=Daniel Pye|title=Senate President Chea Sim dead at 82|url=http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/senate-president-chea-sim-dead-82|accessdate=9 June 2015|publisher=The Phnom Penh Post|date=8 June 2015}}</ref>

Many saw it as the first-ever public display of power struggle and infighting between Hun Sen and Chea Sim. Subsequently, Hun Sen continued his tactic of replacing Chea Sim's loyalists with his favourite candidates for important roles in the party and government.<ref name=PPP/> Chea Sim had led a powerful faction within the ruling CPP party which was at times at odds with Hun Sen and his supporters, but many describe Sim's role after that as little more than symbolic.<ref name=PPP/>