Seven Resign From Ky’s Cabinet

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31195, 20 October 1966, Page 17

Seven Resign From Ky’s Cabinet

(N.Z. Press Association—Copyright) SAIGON, October 19. Seven South Vietnamese Cabinet Ministers resigned today, throwing the Government of the South Vietnamese Premier, Air Vice-Marshal Nguyen Cao Ky, into a crisis less than a week before the Manila conference.

The ministers charged that Air Vice-Marshal Ky had done little to solve the problem of regionalism in South Vietnam and that the Government was headed toward a police state. They had threatened to resign nearly two weeks ago.

Air Vice - Marshal Ky reportedly called the Ministers to his office for a conference in an attempt to iron out the dispute. It was a serious blow to the Premier, who wanted to go to the Manila conference on October 24 with a stable Government behind him. There were reports that four other Cabinet members had joined the ranks of the dissident Ministers. These could not be immediately confirmed. The dispute involves regional differences between South Vietnamese ministers and northern refugees holding high places in the Government. Air Vice-Marshal Ky himself is a northerner. Principal Demand Informed sources said one of the principal demands of the ministers was that the Premier dismiss Brigadier-

General Nguyen Ngoc Loan, the national police chief and head of the military security service.

One of the seven who resigned was a member of the South Vietnamese delegation

to the Manila meeting—Mr Au Truong Thanh, Minister of Economy and Finance. His presence at Manila was regarded as particularly important because of empha-

sis on South Vietnam’s economic reconstruction. The six others are:— Dr. Nguyen Luu Vien, Civilian Deputy Premier and Minister of Culture and Social Welfare; Vo Long Trieu, Secretary of State for Youth; Nguyen Huu Hung, Secretary of State for Labour; Tran Ngoc Lieng, Secretary of State for Social Welfare; Nguyen Van Truong, Secretary of State for Education. Truong Van Tuan, Secretary of State for Transport and Logistics. ‘Toying With Idea’ The dissident Cabinet Ministers—South Vietnamese who resent the power of Ky and other refugees from the North in the Government—had been toying with the idea of a Cabinet crisis for weeks, United Press International said. They obviously acted now to win concessions before the Manila meeting. The struggle in the Cabinet is chiefly a battle of regionalism, but at the same time it is a rebellion of sorts by civilians against the military Government controlled by the National Leadership Council comprised of II generals.

Informed sources said the civilian’s complaint is that the civilian ministers have been trying to do a good job but find the military group interfering and putting roadblocks in their path. Most of the military men are from the North.