Word: phouma
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...wrangle over who would speak for Laos. In what may have been only the first of successive retreats, the U.S. caved in and agreed to seat not one but two pro-Communist del egations, one from the Pathet Lao guerrillas and the other from ex-Premier Prince Souvanna Phouma (who stayed away, but sent his lissome, sari-clad daughter as a delegate). The pro-Western royal Laotian government, on hearing that it would be outnumbered, boycotted the conference-even though a British diplomat in Laos spent all day on a motor scooter trying to track down the Foreign Affairs Secretary...
...shown up (but agreed, after some pleading, to come later). As for the Laotians, the Communist side sent two delegations-one headed by a veteran guerrilla representing the Pathet Lao, the other by a onetime Vientiane bookseller who was standing in for self-styled "neutralist'' Prince Souvanna Phouma. The royal government delegation straggled in two days late...
...Royal Army said that the talks in no man's land were for the purpose of arranging a formal ceasefire, which would then be policed by the International Control Commission (India, Poland, Canada), now in New Delhi and planning to go to Laos this week. Prince Souvanna Phouma, whom the Communists recognize as Premier, said that the talks were to agree on a joint delegation to represent Laos at the Geneva conference...
...future of Laos. The Pathet Lao will be out to ratify its conquest of half of Laos by acquiring a major voice in a coalition government. Reportedly it wanted the ministries of Interior, Rural Affairs and Information-meaning control of police, peasants and propaganda. As candidate for Premier, Souvanna Phouma has all but lost any status as a neutralist. Last week he announced a cultural and economic treaty with North Viet Nam calling for the exchange of experts in economic, cultural and other fields and clearing the way for the establishment of the North Vietnamese brand of Communism in Laos...
Decent Delay. The ruin may well spread beyond the confines of Laos. Russia and Red China will go to the 14-nation* conference at Geneva this month determined not only to put Prince Souvanna Phouma in power, but to pillory the U.S. for its intervention in Laos. Washington is in the unhappy position of having misfired with two opposite policies. The Eisenhower Administration tried to make primitive Laos "a bulwark against Communism' and failed, in part because of the reluctance of the Royal Laotian Army to fight. The Kennedy Administration announced that it would be satisfied with a neutral...