Military Leaders In Laos Agree To Cease-Fire

Press, Volume CII, Issue 30107, 16 April 1963, Page 11

Military Leaders In Laos Agree To Cease-Fire

(N.Z.P.A.•Reuter—Copyright) VIENTIANE, April 15. Leaders of key military factions in Laos have agreed to a temporary cease-fire on the Plain of Jars, the Laotian Prime Minister (Prince Souvanna Phouma) announced last night. 1 He told reporters at Vientiane airport: “It seems there is a way out.” He said the opposing military leaders had agreed to a cease-fire pending his return to the Plain of Jars to arrange a firm settlement.

The neutralist military leader, General Kong Lae, the proCommunist Pathet Lao commander, General Singhapo, and the leader of the dissident neutralists, Colonel Deuane, have agreed to the truce.

A mixed neutralist and Pathet Lao military team will go into the town of Xieng Khouang to bring out a besieged neutralist tank force. Prince Souvamna flew to the plain yesterday accompanied by his half-brother, the Pathet Lao leader. Prince Souphanouvong, to stop the fighting

They were accompanied by the three members of the International Control Commission for Laos (from India.

Canada and Poland) and by the ambassadors of Britain and the Soviet Union, the cochairmen of the Geneva Conference on Laos. Genera] Kong Lae said yesterday he believed the Pathet Lao were trying to destroy him and replace him with Colonel Deuane, leader of the dissident neutralist force who with the Pathet Lao, have been fighting sporadically with General Kong Lae’s forces since the end of last month. More than 200 men have been killed in the fighting so far. according to General Kong Lae. Observers agree the key to the situation is not General Singkhapo. the leader of the Pathet Lao forces, but two seldom-seen Laotians —Mr Kaysone Phomviharn and Mr Nouhak Phoumsavan

Mr Kaysone is generally thought to be the real leader of the Communist Party in Laos, with Mr Nouhak as his deputy. Prince Souphanouvong, the titular head of the Pathet Lao. is thought to rank about fifth. General Kong Lae yesterday described Genera] Singhapo as “only a letterbox" and Prince Sotivanna and others were hoping to have a chance to talk with either Mr Kaysone or Mr Nouhak in order to be able to obtain a definite Pathet Lao commitment to peace. Both Mi Kaysone and Mr Nouhak live at Sam Neua in northern Laos, in an area

completely under Communis’ control for many years, but Mr Nouhak often travel* to the Plain of Jars to talk with General Singhapo

It is generally thought that if Prince Souvanna Phouma fails in this bid to attain a state of peace General Kong Lae will either have to launch an all-out attack on the Pathet Lao in the Plain of Jars or resign himself to having his force whittled away, with subsequent weakening of the position of Prince Souvanna Phouma and the probable collapse of the already shaky coalition Government agreed on at Geneva.

Call For U.S. To Invade Cuba

(N.Z Prm Am.—Copyright) MIAMI (Florida), April 14. The Cuban exile leader. Dr. Luis Conte Aguero, called on President Kennedy today to authorise an American invasion of Cuba to topple Dr. Fidel Castro’s regime, United Press International reported. In an address to the Cuban Lions Club in exile, Dr. Conte read the text of a letter to Mr Kennedy in which he warned that “time is not on our side" and said the United States “must launch a democratic counter-intervention tn Cuba against Communist intervention.’’