Word: oum
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...Important Thing." Western powers were indeed discussing some further concessions to the Communists. They were prepared to chuck the pro-Western though ineffectual Laotian government of Premier Boun Oum, restore left-leaning "neutralist" ex-Premier Souvanna Phouma as the Russians demanded. Last week a touring Souvanna admitted grandly in Paris that "it was on my request that the Soviets have granted, during the past few months, aid to troops faithful to my government." In any event, Souvanna was the same man whom the U.S. could have had six months ago at a far lower cost...
...their march past before King Savang Vatthana and pro-Western Premier Boun Oum. the armed forces looked trim and efficient. But foreigners were warned not to leave the capital because their protection could not be guaranteed. Most of the government troops on duty in the field had been pulled back to Vientiane to celebrate the eleventh anniversary of the founding of the Laotian army...
Peasants & Politicians. Virtually all of northern Laos that remained under government control was the Mekong River valley-and that was fast going. General Phoumi Nosavan and most of the members of Premier Boun Oum's Cabinet flew their wives and children downriver to the relative safety of Phoumi's southern headquarters in Savannakhet. Chinese merchants and those Laotians who could afford it sent their families across the Mekong into Thailand. In the villages surrounding Vientiane, peasants resignedly dug foxholes. Said one: "This war is not our business." The one thing the peasants clearly wanted...
...exile in Cambodia, cultivating gladioli at a royal villa borrowed from Cambodia's Prince Sihanouk. Souvanna is a man so enigmatic that he persistently refuses to define what he means by his doctrine of "neutrality in neutralism," on the ground that Laotians dislike precision. There is Prince Boun Oum, recognized as Premier by the U.S., but frankly described by one Western diplomat as "a sort of Buddhist Falstaff." One of Boun Oum's supporters called him "the most representative personality of the kingdom"-by which was meant that he is excessively fond of drinking and wenching. In fact...
...please Souvanna, any new government will have to be broad-based, which in Laos means including as many important families as possible, as well as some Pathet Lao, at least in minor positions. To avoid argument over whether Souvanna or Boun Oum is the "legitimate" Premier, both sides would deal through King Savang Vatthana. Any solution is likely to be makeshift. Says one U.S. diplomat: "Laos is going to be a problem throughout our lifetime and longer." But for Laos to be declared neutral is not necessarily an inevitable step toward a Communist takeover. The Pathet Lao, still a tiny...