Word: lao
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Dates: during 1950-1959
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...Laos (pronounced Lah-oze) is a faithfully Buddhist kingdom known as "the land of a million elephants," which five years ago was carved out of French Indo-China in the Geneva conference after Dienbienphu. It has Communists to the north of it (China), Communists to the east of it (North Viet Nam), and Communists inside it (the Pathet Lao). Only 18 months ago it seemed to be slipping inexorably toward Red rule. As the result of a queer, credulous armistice with its own Communist rebels, the Laotian government reserved two of its Cabinet posts for Communists and agreed to absorb...
While its Communist neighbors, Red China and North Viet Nam, hurled threats by radio, tiny Laos last week tried desperately to set its house in order. Tough, grizzled General Ouane Rattinkoun, 34, veteran of jungle battles against the French, Chinese, North Viet Nam Reds, and the home-grown Communists of the Pathet Lao, was ordered to solve by force a problem that had not yielded to nearly two years of diplomacy. His task: to integrate into the 25,000 man Royal Laotian army two Communist battalions...
Valley Exit. The integration had been promised in the November 1957 agreement between the government and the rebel Pathet Lao, who then controlled two of the nation's northern provinces under the leadership of Prince Souphanouvong, pro-Red cousin of the King of Laos. "I signed the agreement," said the prince. "I guarantee it will be respected. If the Pathet Lao battalions don't respect the agreement, I no longer consider them friends." To the Laotian government and the army, integration meant that the Communist troops would be parceled out in small numbers among the other troops...
...When Laos' two Communist-run northern provinces were integrated into the little kingdom last December, Laotians and many foreign observers remained relaxed. The Pathet Lao's leader, Prince Souphanouvong, was no Communist but a royal prince and a devout Buddhist, they argued; his followers were few and badly organized, and their program in any case was moderate: peace, unity, neutrality and cooperation with all nations, including Communist China and the neighboring Viet Minh. Only a few pessimists feared that by the general election of 1960 the Pathet Lao-which renamed itself the Neo Lao Hak Xat or Patriotic...
...Laos. The Communist Pathet Lao, controlling two of the twelve provinces, has joined the central government, whose authority is thereby extended to all of the little jungle kingdom (pop. 1,400,000 to 2,500,000). Though not seriously alarmed as yet, U.S. officials watch anxiously as Communist troops take their place in the royal army, and a Communist Minister of Planning helps decide how U.S. funds ($43 million this year) are to be spent...