Word: souvanna
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When I arrived in Hanoi one night in 1961 aboard a Russian military plane, the entire North Vietnamese Politburo was there to meet Laotian Prince Souvanna Phouma. I got to shake the hands of Premier Pham Van Dong, General Giap and Ho Chi Minh, who told me in near-perfect French: "Please tell the truth." The second time was totally different. There were no honor guards and no flowers at Hanoi's Gia Lam Airport-only a flock of black-suited men with black shoes, black socks and conservative ties...
...former French colony, Laos drifted into independence after World War II, under the custody of a fractious royal family. The two chief rivals: Prince Souvanna Phouma, who became Premier, and his half brother, Prince Souphanouvong, who became a follower of North Viet Nam's Ho Chi Minh and headed the guerrilla Pathet Lao. Fighting between their forces continued fitfully for years, and the war in neighboring Viet Nam turned dreamy little Laos into a strategic battleground, a Communist sanctuary and supply route between North and South...
When a peace settlement was reached in Viet Nam, the peripheral war in Laos lost much of its urgency. Despite ringing rhetoric by all U.S. Presidents since Dwight Eisenhower about the pivotal role of Laos in Southeast Asia, the U.S. last week urged Premier Souvanna to agree to a ceasefire. In desperation he accepted a settlement that gives the Communist Pathet Lao just about everything it has asked for ending the shooting. The Communists will be allowed to retain the land they now control, which is about two-thirds of the country (but includes only one-third of the population...
...final settlement was negotiated by Souvanna, now 72, after more than 19 weeks of talks with the Pathet Lao; rival Prince Souphanouvong sent only an intermediary to bargain with his brother. Whether Souvanna Phouma will now retain his top position in the new government is not certain, although the concessions he made to the Communists could have been motivated by his desire to do so. Complained one top administrator: "Souvanna capitulated on every point except one-that he should be Prime Minister-and he didn't even get that in writing...
...reportedly has urged the government of Premier Souvanna Phouma not to accede to any new demands from the Communist Pathet Lao and to seek a cease-fire based on the same principles as the Paris peace settlement for Viet...