Short History of Laos by Grant Evans

Author:Grant Evans [Evans, Grant]
Language: eng
Format: azw
ISBN: 9781741150537
Published: 2003-04-30T16:00:00+00:00

The three princes, Boun Oum, Souvanna Phouma and Souphanouvong, 1963, following their final peace agreement. (Courtesy Prince Mangkra Souvanna Phouma)

trade, to forestall US pressure, but it was not nearly enough to pay for his soldiers and government. This deficit, combined with a military debacle for the RLA in Luang Nam Tha, left Phoumi with little to bargain with and he agreed to talks with Souvanna. In the meantime he and Boun Oum, accompanied by Sarit, had held talks with the Thai King who, familiar with American accounts of what had taken place in Czechoslovakia in 1949, was deeply worried by developments in Laos. The two Lao expressed their bitterness about what they saw as ‘American betrayal’ to the King, and a few days later he would lecture the US Ambassador to Thailand on the need for Americans to understand the ‘different temperament and mentality’ of the Lao. The Ambassador reported:

The King told me he could well understand Lao emotional reactions to Americans because Thais went through similar experience several years ago when there were many deep and bitter clashes between American and Thais. Today Thai–US relations are good . . . Americans now show tact and consideration for very sensitive people in this small Asian country. Lao people are no different than Thais in this regard. The King said he hoped Lao and Americans would achieve a similar relationship.30

The eclipse of neutralism

In June agreement was reached on a Provisional Government of National Union, made up of eleven neutralists, four rightists and four Pathet Lao. Souvanna was Prime Minister and Minister of Defence, and was flanked by Souphanouvong as Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of the Economy, with Phoumi as the other Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance. Prince Boun Oum retired from politics. Many of the conditions from the original Geneva Conference were stipulated, including no foreign bases and a timetable for the withdrawal of foreign troops. The government would exist only until a permanent government could be properly established through elections. The two sides would continue to administer their respective zones, although this meant, among other things, that the withdrawal of 10 000 Vietnamese troops from PL zones could never be verified. American and Thai military personnel left under international scrutiny, although the CIA continued to supply clandestine support to a burgeoning irregular army around the Plain of Jars, under the command of the Hmong, Colonel Vang Pao. While Souvanna Phouma hoped to be able to build up a strong centrist party, constructed partly out of defectors from the right and the left, this plan foundered when his military power base, Kong Le’s neutralist army, split over the acceptance of US military aid. The Soviet airlift to the Plain of Jars had ended, Kong Le’s forces needed re-supplying, and Souvanna agreed to have Air America, a CIA-funded airline, ferry in US supplies. The Pathet Lao objected, and when in November a plane was shot down by a neutralist faction under Colonel Deuane Sunnarat, who had grown close to the PL, Kong Le’s closest comrade Colonel Ketsana tried to arrest those responsible.

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