Word: souphanouvong
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...United Press fortnight ago announced the name of the new president of the Laotian National Assembly. Bangkok and Hong Kong newspapers printed the story on their front pages, and a TIME correspondent picked it up (TIME, June 2). But the story was wrong. The president was not Prince Souphanouvong, leader of the Red-lining Patriotic Front, which last month gained control of 21 of the Assembly's 59 seats. It was instead 47-year-old Pheng Phongsavan, who has been president since 1956 and was re-elected to his third one-year term. If the names sounded a little...
When Laos' two Communist-run northern provinces were integrated into the little kingdom last December, Laotians and many foreign observers remained relaxed. The Pathet Lao's leader, Prince Souphanouvong, was no Communist but a royal prince and a devout Buddhist, they argued; his followers were few and badly organized, and their program in any case was moderate: peace, unity, neutrality and cooperation with all nations, including Communist China and the neighboring Viet Minh. Only a few pessimists feared that by the general election of 1960 the Pathet Lao-which renamed itself the Neo Lao Hak Xat or Patriotic...
...because the splintered and squabbling non-Communist majority still refused to get excited. "Souphanouvong has been scolding the government these many years; now he 'has the power, and we will attack him, and it will serve him right," said one opponent. Others convinced themselves that with Souphanouvong's Communists administering American aid, more U.S. money would get past the corrupt politicians and into the hands of the people, who would then be properly grateful and friendly to the West...
Souvanna Phouma gave the Communists two seats in the Cabinet, and in return Souphanouvong agreed to integrate 1,500 of his 6,000-odd Communist troops into the royal army. The rest of the Pathet Lao army would be placed in "reserve status," and permitted to return to their native villages, there to create what unrest they could...
Immediately after the reunification ceremonies, Communist Souphanouvong announced that he had lost a list of Red officials and army personnel that he was supposed to turn over to his halfbrother. He said he would go back to Samneua and Phongsaly to see if he could get another. The rest of Laos' ministers, all now technically royal and loyal, went nightclubbing. Communist broadcasters in Hanoi, Peking and Moscow were jubilant. "The agreement," said Radio Hanoi, "would serve as a model for the reunification of North and South Viet...