Control Of 1.1m Civilians Lost

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31659, 20 April 1968, Page 13

Control Of 1.1m Civilians Lost

(N.Z. Press Association—Copyright) SAIGON, April 19. The United States yesterday released figures showing that the South Vietnamese Government had lost effective control over I.lm people because of the Communist’s Tet offensive, the “New York Times” News Service reported.

However, the United States mission added that the allies had put their pacification programme “back on the track” and were beginning to erase the losses. Mr Robert Komer, the ambassador in charge of pacification, said the allies now controlled areas containing 61 per cent of South Vietnam’s population. The Communists controlled villages and hamlets containing 18.3 per cent of the people. The rest live in contested areas. In early January, before the Tet offensive, 67.3 per cent of South Vietnam’s 17.2 m people were listed by Mr Komer’s office as living in relatively secure areas. The enemy controlled 16.3

per cent of the population at the time, and the rest were in contested areas. Mr Komer emphasised that most of the people who slipped from Government control during the offensive were not now under Viet Cong control. He conceded that the Communists now controlled more of the countryside than was reflected in the population figures—all of the main population centres are in Government hands, and the Viet Cong is most active in sparsely populated areas. According to Mr Komer’s statistics 4559 rural hamlets are relatively secure and under general Government control. The Viet Cong controls 4093 hamlets, and 4084 are contested.