Talks In Geneva On Laos Clashes

Press, Volume XCVIII, Issue 28963, 3 August 1959, Page 11

Talks In Geneva On Laos Clashes

(Rec. 10 p.m.) GENEVA, August 1. The British Foreign Secretary, Mr Selwyn Lloyd, is holding week-end talks on the fighting in Laos with the head of the South-east Asia department of the Foreign Office, Mr Richard Heppel, who has flown specially to Geneva from London.

Diplomatic observers thought the Soviet Foreign Minister, Mr Andrei Gromyko, might ask to see Mr Lloyd before the expected end of the Geneva Foreign Ministers’ conference on Wednesday. The Soviet Union and Britain have special responsibility as cochairmen of the 1954 Geneva conference, which negotiated the armistices in Indo-China. Observers in Geneva had the impression that Mr Lloyd was waiting for Mr Gromyko to make the first move. Britain has hitherto supported the Royal Laotian Government in its opposition to Communist calls for the revival of the International Supervisory Commission tor Laos, set up under the armistice provisions. Vice-Premier in Paris The Laotian Vice-Premier, Mr Katay Sasorith, arrived unexpectedly in Paris by air from Thailand today: but he said his visit had nothing to do with the critical situation in northern Laos. The Secretary-General of the United Nations, Mr Hammarskjold. is now in Paris, and it was thought that Mr Sasorith’s visit might be connected with this.

There have been reports that Laos would appeal to the United Nations- Security Council about the attacks by Communist rebels Reuters reported, however, that Mr Sasorith was in Paris to consult doctors about his health. The Laos Embassy councillor, Mr Platthana Chounramany, said Mr Sasorith’s visit had been long arranged and had no connexion with political events in Laos. The Minister had no plans to see Mr Hammarskjold. He was expected to stay in Paris for about a week. Asked about the Minister’s health, he said Mr Sasorith was “very tired.” He said Laos considered the Pathet Laos troubles as a “purely irternal affair” and had no intention of raising the matter with the United Nations or with the Internationa] Commission set up in 1954 under the Indo-China settlement. “The situation is under control,” he added. Reports reaching official quarters in London confirmed that Prince Southpanouvong, leader of the Left-Wing Neo Lao Haksat Party in Laos, had been arrested by the Government. He was among party leaders arrested earlier this week. They will be charged with offences against the internal and external security of the State.

The only man to escape the swoop is Colonel Kaysone, who was commander-in-chief of the Pathet Lao forces in the 1953 invasion against the French. He is believed to be with a rebel band in the north.