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WEEKLY NEWSLETTER
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Laos
Index
On October 7, Souphanouvong and a Vietnamese escort
arrived in
Savannakhét to find that Oun and his partisans, who
included Phoumi
Nosavan, had crossed the river from Thailand, taken
control of the
town, and, in a loose alliance with the large Vietnamese
population, armed themselves from looted armories of the
local
militia and arms discarded by the withdrawing Japanese. As
a result
of negotiations, their forces merged. Souphanouvong became
commander in chief and Oun second in command.
Souphanouvong and his
escort proceeded upriver, first to Thakhek and then to
Vientiane,
where a provisional revolutionary government had been
proclaimed
two weeks earlier, taking the name
Lao Issara (Free Laos--see Glossary).
Moreover, the Committee of Independence,
strongly
influenced by the Lao Pen Lao, controlled Vientiane. Upon
his
arrival, Souphanouvong was made minister of foreign
affairs and
commander in chief. At his urging, a military cooperation
convention was signed with Ho Chi Minh's government.
Meanwhile, bolstered by renewed assurances of support
from the
French, Sisavang Vong had sent messages on October 10 to
Vientiane
accusing Phetsarath of exceeding his authority and
stripping him of
his position as prime minister and his title of viceroy.
Phetsarath
protested but accepted these decisions and, after thanking
the
Laotian civil servants for their support, immediately
announced his
withdrawal from public life. His decision was no doubt
influenced
by the fact that he was married to a sister of Sisavang.
The royal dismissal of Phetsarath turned Lao Issara
leaders
against the monarchy, which they saw as hopelessly
compromised by
the French. In an effort to give their government some
semblance of
legitimacy, Lao Issara leaders hastily named the People's
Committee, consisting of thirty-four members, many of them
Lao Pen
Lao activists, but also including the governors of several
provinces who were not even in Vientiane. Members of the
Chamber of
People's Representatives were elected--and simply notified
after
the fact--by the members of the People's Committee in
accordance
with a provisional constitution adopted on the morning of
October
12.
At the news of the king's deposition and the report
that the
Lao Issara government had dispatched an armed contingent
to
Louangphrabang under Sing Ratanassamay's command, the
agitation in
the royal capital grew rapidly. With Imfeld and his men
disarmed
and held under house arrest by Chinese troops, the
governor,
Boungnavath, was free to act, and he had Royal Lao
Government
(RLG--see Glossary)
supporters arrested. On November 10, hours
before
the arrival of Sing's force, a mob surrounded the royal
palace,
fired shots in the air, climbed over the walls, and forced
entry.
Sing and his men had an audience with the king that
afternoon. The
king declared himself to be a simple citizen, prepared to
hand over
the phrabang and to vacate the royal palace when
the
government thought it appropriate. Later that month, the
government
issued a formal decree that no member of the government
would
henceforth have any contact with the French.
Data as of July 1994
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