MONGABAY.COM
Mongabay.com seeks to raise interest in and appreciation of wild lands and wildlife, while examining the impact of emerging trends in climate, technology, economics, and finance on conservation and development (more)
WEEKLY NEWSLETTER
|
|
Laos
Index
On December 15, 1946, in the face of guerrilla raids
from
across the Mekong, forty-four delegates to the Kingdom of
Laos's
first popularly elected Constituent Assembly were chosen.
Under
French supervision, the delegates worked on a constitution
promulgated by Sisavang Vong on May 11, 1947. This
constitution
declared Laos an independent state within the French
Union. On
November 26, 1947, the thirty-three deputies to Laos's
first
National Assembly invested a government headed by Prince
Souvannarath, another half-brother of Phetsarath. By the
terms of
a confidential protocol of February 25, 1948, Boun Oum was
allowed
to keep his title of Prince of Champasak but renounced his
suzerain
rights to this former kingdom. In return he was made
inspector
general of the kingdom, the third-ranking personage of
Laos after
the king and crown prince.
Under a successor government headed by Boun Oum, the
Franco-Lao
General Convention of July 19, 1949, gave Laos greater
latitude in
foreign affairs. Over the following months, France
transferred its
remaining powers. A Royal Lao Army was created, which by
the end of
1952 comprised seventeen companies, in addition to a
battalion
entirely commanded by Laotian officers. On February 7,
1950, the
United States and Britain recognized Laos. Later that
year, the
United States opened a legation in Vientiane.
Meanwhile, contacts had been made in Bangkok between
the French
and moderates in the Lao Issara government-in-exile. A
coup d'état
in Thailand ushered in a government much less sympathetic
to the
anti-French resistance in Laos than its predecessor and
deprived
the hardliners among the Lao Issara of precious support. A
conflict
developed between Phetsarath and Souphanouvong over the
issue of
the Lao Issara's ties to the Viet Minh. This conflict led
to
Souphanouvong's dismissal from the government-in-exile.
When France
offered an amnesty, the government decreed its own
dissolution in
October 1949 and returned to Vientiane in a French plane.
Phetsarath was left in Thailand. Souphanouvong, vowing to
continue
to fight, headed for Vietnam. The Lao Issara was a spent
force,
although it lived on in legend.
Data as of July 1994
|
|