MONATIO

MONATIO, short for Mouvement National (English: "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 entered Phnom Penh, this group took out a motor-cavalcade on the streets of the capital welcoming the arrival of the Khmer Rouge.^[1]

Mouvement National
MONATIO
Flag used by MONATIO
Dates of operation	17 April 1975
Ideology	Khmer nationalism
Opponents	Khmer Rouge
Battles and wars	Fall of Phnom Penh

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.^[1][2]

Initially tolerated by the Khmer Rouge, MONATIO members were later rounded up and executed.^[2][3] The Khmer Rouge regime later claimed that MONATIO had been a CIA conspiracy against the revolutionary government.^[4]

A movie on the events of 1975, called MONATIO, was made by Norodom Sihanouk.^[5]