Preserving a Thin Fa

The neutralist Premier of Laos was characteristically expressionless as he spoke, but his words were grave. "Important changes have taken place that some had not expected so suddenly, but they are here," Prince Souvanna Phouma told his countrymen during ceremonies on Constitution Day. "[The new situation] is a great chance to preserve our nation from further bloodshed that would surely take place if one continued to ignore the march of historic events. The war has reached an end."

Thus last week did the inexorable march of events sweep tiny Laos, to all intents and purposes, into the Communist camp on the heels of its neighbors in Indochina. So quickly had the Communist-led Pathet Lao consolidated their political and military power that even veteran observers of the sleepy, landlocked kingdom were surprised. "I thought they were going to draw it out," admitted a U.S. official. "But because of what happened in Cambodia and South Viet Nam, they saw no need to wait." Nonetheless, the end of the quarter-century war was typically Laotian. Another U.S. official described it as "a genteel sort of collapse," demonstrating once again that Laos prefers to move at a more leisurely pace than its neighbors.

The collapse began at the start of this month, when the political and military strength of the pro-American rightists in Laos ebbed swiftly in the face of Pathet Lao pressure. At first, an official takeover by the Communists appeared imminent. Then the tempo slowed. The Cabinet patiently waited until its regular Wednesday meeting last week to respond to the resignations of two rightist ministers and two deputy ministers. Instead of insisting that the vacancies be filled by leftists, the Pathet Lao permitted Souvanna to name nominal rightists acceptable to the left. This at least maintains the facade of the year-old coalition Cabinet, which under a 1973 agreement is supposed to contain five rightists, five leftists and two neutralists. "We want the coalition to continue. It will continue," declared a senior Pathet Lao official.

The Communists plainly have nothing to fear from the tame rightists in the Cabinet. Earlier in the week, Khamouane Boupha, a Pathet Lao general, had been named acting Defense Minister by Souvanna to replace the rightist Sisouk na Champassak, who had resigned. Boupha immediately issued orders grounding the air force, forbidding all troop movements and demanding declarations of loyalty to the new command from all military units.

Fleeing Officers. The Pathet Lao concern about possible resistance from rightist-led units was exaggerated. From the rightist-controlled area of Laos, military units proclaimed loyalty to the new commander. At the police academy, the units actually stripped then" rightist officers of power. Elsewhere, they deserted camps en masse rather than continue under rightists. In other places rightist officers simply disappeared, fleeing with their families in wooden ferries across the Mekong River into Thailand. Rightist politicians and many Chinese and Vietnamese businessmen also fled.

With the Communist victory all but official, the U.S. began accelerating the reduction of Americans in Laos. At the start of the week, about 850 U.S. officials and dependents and 150 businessmen, journalists, missionaries and other private citizens were based there. Some of them came under attack last week. In Luang Prabang, site of King Savang Vatthana's royal capital, leftist students stormed the compound of the U.S. Agency for International Development. Waving banners and banging drums, they smashed desks and tossed typewriters through windows. During a similar attack against USAID facilities at Savannakhet, a youthful mob looted food stocks and placed three Americans under house arrest. At week's end the demonstrators were refusing to release the three unless senior government officials came to Savannakhet to discuss student demands that Vientiane remove "corrupt" and rightist officials.

Natural Target. In part, the demonstrations were protests against soaring food prices, which are rising at a rate of 70% annually. In Luang Prabang the students also pillaged food shops. The U.S., however, is a natural target for the left. In the last two decades, Washington has propped up rightist and recently-neutralist governments with more than $3 billion worth of military and economic aid. As a result of the demonstrations, all U.S. personnel based in the Laotian provinces were recalled to Vientiane. Washington insists, however, that it has no intention of closing the embassy. As long as the coalition continues, the U.S. hopes to maintain a presence in the country. According to some U.S. officials, the Pathet Lao have been saying that they want American aid (currently running at $80 million annually) and an American presence to continue.

That the coalition has survived even this far is a testament to Souvanna. For three decades the debonair prince--with his well-known fondness for black cigars, tennis and poker--has patiently pursued his dream of "seeing a Laos that will be neutral and ready to do its bit for peace in the world." A member of a junior branch of Laos' ruling dynasty,* he attended elitist French schools in Hanoi and France, and for 19 years served in the public works service of the French colonial administration.

Emerging as one of the most important advocates of an independent Laos after World War II, the Prince stressed that his country must not only gain independence from France but also remain independent of the U.S. and North Viet Nam. Now 73, Souvanna realizes that Hanoi will almost certainly wield powerful influence in a Communist Laos, but he seems willing to accept this to see his nation united and at peace. In return, the Pathet Lao are expected to allow Souvanna to remain as Premier. Both he and the King are symbols of national unity. Both, however, will be little more than figureheads. Real power will rest with the Communists.

* Souvanna is the son of his father's first wife; his half brother Souphanouvong, head of the Pathet Lao, is the son of their father's eleventh wife.

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