Word: phoumi
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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Also on the road: anti-Red Strongman General Phoumi Nosavan and his protege, Premier Boun Oum, who had gone to Bangkok seeking economic aid to bolster their challenge to U.S. policy in Laos...
Anywhere else in the world, the U.S. would rush to back a stubborn antiCommunist leader. In Laos the situation is different. For months the U.S. has been 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...
Last week the U.S. got weary of Phoumi's rearing and backing, and hit him where it hurt: in the pocketbook. Leary of outright sanctions, the U.S. put the pressure on by failing to deposit the regular monthly aid payment of $4,000,000 with the Chase Manhattan Bank in New York. With a straight face, U.S. officials announced that "administrative snags" caused the delay. The U.S. aim: to make Phoumi and Boun Oum go to Geneva for more talks with the permanent international conference on Laos. But Phoumi was not about to buy a plane ticket for Geneva...
...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...
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...