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WEEKLY NEWSLETTER
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Laos
Index
Monk crossing Wat Xieng Thong yard, Louangphrabang
Courtesy Gina Merris
Negotiations in Paris in the autumn of 1972 between the
United
States and North Vietnam created a favorable environment
for
reaching a cease-fire agreement in Laos. Negotiations
opened in
Vientiane on October 17, 1972, and went on inconclusively
between
Pheng Phongsavan, representing Souvanna Phouma, and Phoumi
Vongvichit, representing the Pathet Lao. Souvanna Phouma
was
hopeful that the United States would keep up the pressure.
But the
situation had changed drastically during the previous
decade. There
were now only two sides in the negotiations, and the
Pathet Lao
insisted that their opponents be referred to as "the
Viangchan
government side." Moreover, the United States was on its
way out of
Indochina--whether by its Vietnamization policy or by
negotiations
with Hanoi. Nonetheless, there was no guarantee that Hanoi
would
respect the provisions of negotiated agreements on Laos,
and the
ability of the United States to enforce compliance was not
as great
as Souvanna Phouma imagined. The pressure grew to conclude
the
negotiations rapidly.
Data as of July 1994
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