Ky Completes First Year In Power

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31090, 20 June 1966, Page 13

Ky Completes First Year In Power

(N.Z.PA.-Reuter—Copyright)

SAIGON, June 19. South Vietnam’s ruling generals today celebrated the completion of their first year in power—somewhat shaken, but still in command. It is an anniversary they have often appeared in danger of not achieving. They have lasted far longer than many expected when they took office, after the kaleidoscope of short-lived regimes which had ousted each other since the overthrow in 1963 of President Ngo Dinh Diem’s nine-year administration.

So far they have survived, and even appear to be overcoming, a determined challenge by the militant Buddhist monks who have helped to topple several previous governments. “As far as 1 am concerned, it’s all over,” the Prime Minister, Nguyen Cao Ky, said last night, referring to the three-month political crisis. He said he would take a three-day holiday next week. Today Vietnamese and Allied troops paraded in a military review to mark the anniversary.

The Prime Minister headed a gathering of military chiefs and diplomats in the reviewing stand at the general staff headquarters compound on the outskirts of Saigon.

The parade brought together units of all branches of the South Vietnam armed forces, including the women’s corps.

Also passing in review were contifigents from military services of the United States, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand. Vietnamese jets flew past in formation. One member of the ruling group was missing, the northern zone commander, Lieut-enant-General Nguyen Chanh Thi, who was ousted by his fellow generals in March. This move gave the Buddhist monks their chance to press for a return to civilian rule.