Bell for the Middle Man

Premier Prince Souvanna Phouma of Laos is clearly a man who prefers the comforting sound of temple bells to the strident sounds of war. And although he was hoisted to the premiership by young (26) and moody Paratroop Captain Kong Le after a successful coup d'etat in August, Souvanna basically abhorred soldiers in government ("There is always a coup in the offing"). He loved peace. To re-establish it after seven years of trouble with the pro-Communist Pathet Lao, Souvanna hopefully sought to end the nagging civil war by forming a government of "national union" that would range from his own neutralists to the pro-U.S. faction of General Phoumi Nosavan at one end and the Communist Pathet Lao at the other.

But hard as Souvanna tried, the country would not be pacified. Instead, it ran apart like globs of skittering quicksilver. The soldiers began fighting each other. Pathet Lao guerrillas encircled Vientiane, the seat of Souvanna's government, under the guise of coming to negotiate; Souvanna's own Captain Kong Le marched out to oppose insurgent General Phoumi in the jungles along the great and languid Mekong River. And when Souvanna fancied that the U.S. was aiding Phoumi to his detriment, he himself applied for Russian aid. Phoumi's American-made 105-mm. howitzers resounded in the jungle and Russian Ilyushin-145 droned overhead bearing gasoline for Souvanna's forces.

As if all that were not bad enough, last week the garrison of Vientiane rebelled. Captain Kong Le, who was away at the front, could do nothing about it. The new garrison commander, Colonel Kouprasith Abhay, began purging leftists from the garrison forces. Equably, Souvanna remarked: "We prefer someone who really commands." But when Kong Le rushed back to Vientiane and pushed Kouprasith's forces two miles out of town, the imperturbable Souvanna let that pass too. "This is a military matter," said he.

The end came unexpectedly when Colonel Kouprasith's forces, wearing white armbands, and Captain Kong Le's forces, wearing red armbands, threatened to have it out right there in Vientiane. Souvanna decided it was time to go. Still president of Air Laos, Souvanna ordered up a Boeing Stratoliner, piled in his family and six Cabinet ministers and flew off to Cambodia. He blamed all his troubles on the U.S. for failing to give him support while aiding General Phoumi. "Why do they hate me so much?" he asked.

Back in Souvanna's late capital, General Sounthone Pathammavong, army commander in chief under Souvanna, announced that he had formed a "temporary military government." Vientiane Radio told little of what else went on, but gave its listeners some inscrutably Oriental advice on how to carry on under the circumstances: "Do not bruise lotus blossoms; do not muddy clear waters; do not anger frogs; do not harm little frogs."

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