Word: laotians
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...instrument of peace is a protocol agreement on reconciliation signed this month by representatives of the Laotian government and the pro-Communist Lao Patriotic Forces, formerly known as the Pathet Lao. The meticulously detailed accord establishes a provisional coalition government in which each side will have five Cabinet ministers, including a Deputy Premier apiece. The present Laotian government will retain five portfolios - finance, defense, interior, health and education. The Communists will be in charge of foreign affairs, information, public works and transportation, economic planning, tourism and religion. (Nearly all Laotians are Buddhist, including most of the Communists.) The top post...
...dead of night last week, 60 Laotians stealthily cast off from the Thailand shore of the Mekong River in motor-powered pirogues. They were led by General Thao Ma, 42, onetime commander of the Royal Lao Air Force, who has lived in Thai exile since his 1966 abortive attempt to overthrow the Laotian government. After disembarking at the outskirts of Vientiane, the rebels rendezvoused with about 60 more sympathizers. A coup against Laos' neutralist leader, Prince Souvanna Phouma, had begun...
...signed with the Pathet Lao (TIME, Aug. 13). Conservatives grumbled that the prince was giving the Communists too many key posts in the proposed coalition government and allowing them to maintain too many soldiers in Vientiane and in Luangprabang, the royal capital. To seasoned observers of Laotian politics, who recall the spate of right-wing tries at coups in the early 1960s, the only uncertainty was how many of Souvanna's generals would desert him. As it turned out last week, none...
...secure and secret hiding place. Then Dean sped from one group of generals to another, consulted with the Pathet Lao, and even confronted Ma at the airport. Everywhere his message was the same: the U.S. would not abandon Souvanna and would not support the rebels. Since the Laotian armed forces get all of their equipment and money from the U.S., his message carried weight. The army stayed with Souvanna. The only army losses were the two soldiers who died when their Jeep crashed into a utility pole on the road to the airport...
...placed under guard in the back of an open truck. Later, he was executed by an officer who fired a .45-cal. bullet into his temple. The government rounded up eleven other plotters and also shot them. Ironically, the coup's failure could hasten the kind of Laotian peace that it sought to prevent. Souvanna has emerged with his position strengthened by the firm support of the U.S. and the army...