Word: laotians
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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...trying to nudge the country's leading antiCommunist, General Phoumi Nosavan, and his protege, Prince Boun Oum, into a coalition government with "Neutralist" Prince Souvanna Phouma and pro-Communist Prince Souphanouvong. Reason: the U.S. is convinced that De fense Minister Phoumi (whom it once backed) and his Royal Laotian Army could never win a war against the Communist guerrillas, now considers its best hope is to make Laos into a neutral buffer state. But Phoumi and Boun Oum have danced away from every effort by U.S. Ambassador Winthrop Brown to align them in a neutral government. Praising Phoumi...
...Geneva for more talks with the permanent international conference on Laos. But Phoumi was not about to buy a plane ticket for Geneva without a fight. In a belt-tightening measure to safeguard his dollar reserves, he ordered the National Bank of Laos to stop exchanging dollars for Laotian kip. The black market price for the dollar promptly jumped from 80 to 150 kip, and food prices spiraled. He floated rumors of dollar loans from other sources, announced new Communist invasions from Red China and North Viet Nam to make the U.S. rally to him (as of last week...
...week's end Boun Oum and Phoumi finally yielded to the pressure, announced that they would go to Geneva. At the same time, the U.S. discreetly deposited the $4,000,000 in the Laotian account. But there was no reason to hope that the Geneva meeting would be successful. Phoumi still is holding out for the vital defense and interior ministries that Souvanna demands as his share of the prepared coalition government. And Boun Oum will not be in Geneva long. He must return to Laos by the end of this month to attend the cremation of his mother...
When the U.S., Russia and Red China agreed in Geneva last month to accept a "neutral" Laos, Washington appeared to have written off the embattled country. The argument: the terrain in Laos is too difficult, the Laotian army too weak for a firm stand against Communism. The real line against the Red guerrillas would be drawn in South Viet Nam. Meanwhile, the best thing to hope for was to keep a neutral Laos cordoned off from Red China or Russia as long as possible. To this end, the famous "three princes" were to form a new, neutral government. This left...
Meanwhile, General Phoumi Nosavan, the stoutly anti-Communist commander of the Royal Laotian army, was delighted with the stalemate and did all he could to prevent the princely meeting. His reasons: he faces almost certain loss of his post as Defense Minister under a coalition government, and he generally distrusts the idea of a neutral Laos. Phoumi argues that the Geneva accord is a trap to get U.S. troops out of Laos, while the Red cadres from North Viet Nam will simply melt into the countryside, later return to the attack. The U.S. is in the difficult position of trying...