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WEEKLY NEWSLETTER
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Laos
Index
Despite cultural and linguistic ties between Laos and
Thailand,
after 1975 relations between these two countries were
often marked
by severe strains
(see Bilateral Relations
, ch. 4). Such
strains
often resulted in exchanges of gunfire followed by border
closures.
Relations between Laos and Thailand entered a new phase
of
tension in the middle of 1984 after a period of relative
calm. Thai
Army roadbuilding crews encountered three remote villages
whose
location on available maps they apparently took to favor
Thai
sovereignty. The LPDR government and army thought
otherwise, and a
military and diplomatic standoff ensued for several
months. Laos
took the dispute to the United Nations (UN), where
Thailand was
striving for election to the Security Council. In keeping
with such
aspirations, Thailand announced that it would remove its
troops
from the three villages and seek a peaceful settlement
through a
resurvey of the watershed border.
Further complicating the border situation, in late 1984
Thailand accused Vietnam of meddling in Laotian affairs by
pushing
Laos into hostilities with Thailand in order to draw
attention away
from the situation in Cambodia. Thailand also complained
that Laos
was harboring Thai communists belonging to a new
organization
called Green Star, whose cadre numbered 2,000, and were
said to be
training in six insurgent camps along the Laos-Thailand
border.
Little came of Thai accusations because world attention
was focused
on Vietnam's activity in Cambodia, not on Laos.
Following the mid-1984 incident and until early 1986,
relations
were tense. However, by mid-1986 tension began to ease as
both
sides attempted to downplay the various minor border
incidents. For
example, in mid-July 1986, approximately thirty-five
Laotian ethnic
minority refugees were killed in Thailand. Thailand
alleged that
LPA troops had attacked a refugee settlement near the
village of
Ban Huai Pong, Phayao Province, killing the refugees. The
government said Thailand prevaricated the accusation.
Previously,
less significant border incidents had become contentious;
this
time, however, after trading vitriolic charges in both
countries'
media, the issue died down, foreshadowing an improvement
in crossborder relations.
In late 1986, relations between Laos and Thailand moved
forward
when several delegations were exchanged in order to work
out border
differences. Of significance were discussions between
military and
police delegations, who exchanged information on problems
with
resistance groups, infiltration, smuggling, and bandit
gangs. Laos
was concerned with the embargo Thailand had placed on
strategic
goods crossing Thailand for import into the country. As a
landlocked country, Laos is dependent upon goods
transiting from
and through its neighbors. Negotiations ended the embargo
on these
goods, excluding some military-related items. Laos was
also
concerned about restrictions on commercial goods.
Between 1986 and 1990, the number of border incidents
along the
Laos-Thailand border declined significantly. However,
there was a
major border dispute in December 1987. A cease-fire was
proclaimed
in February 1988, ending the fighting that resulted in
1,000
deaths, and meetings were held to defuse the conflict
(see Developments in the Lao People's Democratic Republic
, ch.
1).
Other factors helped to soften the confrontational
relationship. Thailand's criticism of Laotian-Vietnamese
military
ties lessened after 1988 when the majority of Vietnamese
troops had
departed Laos. Commercial trade continued to be a
stabilizing
force. Diplomatic relations between the two countries were
normal
but wary. The fact that resistance fighters operated from
refugee
camps in Thailand, however, remained a constant source of
irritation.
In 1991 several high-level Laotian-Thai military
delegations
were exchanged in hopes of resolving remaining border
incidents.
These talks resulted in agreements in which both sides
agreed to
withdraw military forces from disputed areas in
Xaignabouri
Province. The withdrawals, which took the form of a
mutually
supervised pullback, created several unpopulated
demilitarized
zones. Thailand also promised to help curtail the illegal
activities of Laotian refugees and exiles residing in
Thailand.
Specifically, it agreed to cooperate in disarming and
arresting any
armed individuals apprehended crossing the border. In 1992
Thailand
reportedly made good on its promise to arrest border
violators, and
the brother of General Vang Pao and a group of Hmong were
taken
into custody in northern Thailand as they were attempting
to stage
a cross-border incursion.
In August 1992, Laos again called for increased
Laotian-Thai
cooperation to suppress anti-LPDR activity by ethnic
resistance
fighters. Cooperation was to include tougher restrictions
on exiled
Hmong wishing to travel to and in Thailand. Vientiane
wanted
Bangkok to strengthen its screening procedures of visa
applications
from exiled and ethnic Lao living in third countries of
resettlement. It was also seeking Thai cooperation in
patrolling
the common border to combat the resistance movement. In
1993 the
LPDR's ambassador to Thailand, Bounkeut Sangsomsak, summed
up the
resistance problem when he noted that the two countries
still
needed to resolve the problem, that both sides had been
consulting
each other at government and military levels, but that
stringent
measures were needed to further disrupt resistance
efforts.
Data as of July 1994
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