Geneva Conference
The UIF sent two delegates, Keo Moni and Mey Pho, to the 1954 conference on a peaceful solution to the conflicts in Indochina. The two accompanied the Viet Minh delegation, which arrived in Geneva on May 8. The UIF was, however, officially invited to the conference. In the first speech by the Viet Minh delegate urged that the UIF-led Khmer Resistance Government should be included in the talks, on equal footing with the Royal Government of Cambodia. This plea was supported by the delegates of the Soviet Union and China, V. M. Molotov and Zhou Enlai. Zhou Enlai was, however, convinced by Western powers to withdraw his support for UIF participation in the conference.
The outcome of the conference included a cease-fire that included the UIF, independence of Cambodia under Sihanouk and the withdrawal of Viet Minh forces from Camboai. The UIF ceased to function. Later, Cambodian communists would argue that the Viet Minh had betrayed the UIF at the conference.
The outcome of the Geneva talks provided that former UIF guerrillas would have been protected by the International Commission of Supervision and Control during the election campaign, but in reality such guarantees were not given. With this backdrop around a thousand of UIF cadres left for Vietnam along with the departing Viet Minh forces, on Polish ships provided by the ICSC on the Mekong river.
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