WIDE CONCERN OVER LAOS Man Sentenced To 1000 Years

Press, Volume CIX, Issue 32233, 27 February 1970, Page 13

WIDE CONCERN OVER LAOS

Man Sentenced To 1000 Years

IN.ZP A -Reuter-Copyright) |j VIENTIANE, " February 26. I] Laos has called for a 1 Geneva-type conference ' in an effort to end the i fighting with infiltrating ; North Vietnamese troops ! who have seized Muong ] Soui, a strategic town, after taking control of t the Plain of Jars. < < The move was announced I in India, which is chairman i of the International Control r Commission for Laos, as : fears were being expressed in I many Asian capitals that the North Vietnamese might i press their advance westwards t after their military victories. I and effectively partition Laos. I c The suggestion of an in- s ternational conference was an- e nounced in the Indian Parlia-,i ment by the Minister of External Affairs (Mr Dinesb'l Singh) after he had had talk's s with the Laotian Foreign Min-■ t

ister (Mr Phangna Khampan Panya). > Mr Singh said that only Britain and the Soviet Union, co-chairmen of the Geneva conference of 14 nations which established Laotian neutrality in 1962, could call a new conference: but, he said, India would help efforts to find a solution to the fighting. “The present situation is the result of non-observance of the letter and spirit of the Geneva agreement." he added. American ambassadors were in consultation with' Government leaders today in Vientiane and the Thai capital, Bangkok. Cabinet sources said after a meeting in Vientiane that the situation in northern Laos had grown more serious. There was nothing to show that the North Vietnamese troops would halt their advance. In Bangkok, the Thai Prime Minister (Field Marshal Thanom Kittikachorni; told reporters that a North

Vietnamese column was approaching the Laotian Mekong river town of Paksane, close to the Thai frontier. Pathet Lao forces, supporting the Communists were aiming at partitioning Laos, he said, and Thailand had made preparations for defending its border provinces. Laotian Government troops are now tightening the security of Sam Thong and Long Cheng, strongholds of the ' American-supported army ofi General Vang Pao. The two towns, about 15 miles apart and 100 miles north of Vientiane, are con-

sidered the next likely targets of the North Vietnamese forces. General Pao has other sites to retreat to if the two towns fall, but their loss could be a serious psychological blow to the morale of the Meo tribes, who regard them as their capitals. The general's army of 19,000 men is recruited mainly from Meos. In Washington, the State Department said that a serious situation had developed in Laos

The United States is keeping a close watch on the fighting to see whether the Communist forces try to push on towards the twin Laotian cap-, itals of Vientiane and Luang I Prabang, officials said.

Asked whether the United States viewed the fall of Muong Soui as a serious blow to the Royal Laotian Government, the State Department spokesman said: “We consider that the situation, in general, is serious. I would not want to pick out any particular losses.”

(N Z Press Association) DALLAS (Texas), Feb. 26 Josepb Franklin Sills, aged 50, has been sentenced to 1000 years in prison for rob bery with assault in connection with a 5U573.10 raid on a dry-cleaning firm last August. A jury imposed the sentence yesterday under a Texas law that provides foi “life, or any term of years not less than five” in cases of robbery with assault