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WEEKLY NEWSLETTER
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Laos
Index
Viet Minh and Laotian officials on November 1, 1945, reviewing a
parade of troops of the Chinese Nationalist 93d Division in
Vientiane. Prince Souphanouvong, commander in chief, Lao Issara
forces, is in uniform in the front row, next to his young son,
Ariya.
Courtesy Tran Van Dinh (former military adviser, intelligence and
operations, to Prince Souphanouvong)
It was thus as a fully sovereign country that Laos sent
a
delegation headed by its foreign minister, Phoui
Sananikone, to the
Geneva Conference on Indochina that put an end to the
First
Indochina War in July 1954. The armistice agreement for
Laos,
signed by a French general on behalf of French Union
forces and a
Viet Minh military official, provided for a cease-fire to
take
effect at 8:00 A.M. on August 6. Viet Minh forces were to
be
withdrawn from Laos to North Vietnam within 120 days. The
Viet Minh
delegation had brought Nouhak and another Pathet Lao
member, Ma
Khamphitay, with them to Geneva on Viet Minh passports,
intending
to have a Pathet Lao delegation seated, but they were not
recognized by the conference. A provision in the armistice
agreement for Laos was nevertheless inserted providing for
the
"fighting units of Pathet Lao" to be regrouped in Houaphan
and
Phôngsali provinces pending a political settlement. The
RLG pledged
to take steps to integrate all Laotian citizens into the
political
life of the kingdom.
The representatives of the other powers at Geneva
signed no
conference documents but instead subscribed to the Final
Declaration taking note of the armistice agreements.
United States
Secretary of State John Foster Dulles lobbied hard to
ensure that
the Laotians made no unnecessary concessions to the
communists. At
the final session, the United States delegation declared
that it
would refrain from the threat or use of force to disturb
the
armistice agreements and that it would view any violations
of them
as a threat to peace and security. Chinese premier Zhou
Enlai
stressed the advisability of a coalition government to the
Laotians, urging an early meeting between princes Souvanna
Phouma
and Souphanouvong. He seemed prepared to offer an exchange
of
diplomats, his main concern being that Laos be free of
United
States military bases.
Data as of July 1994
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