The nation is said to be in the middle of a civil war or a war for independence, with mercenary rebels for hire. Roberto Rastapopoulos's hired gun, Allan, recruits Sondonesians as gun carrying muscle in Flight 714. They appear to be based on Khmer Rouge or East Timor freedom fighters. Hergé's insistence that Sondonesia is in a state of civil war shows amazing clarity of vision of the true state of conflict in Cambodia during that period.