‘Laos aid going to C.I.A.’

Press, Volume CXI, Issue 32525, 8 February 1971, Page 13

‘Laos aid going to C.I.A.’

(N.Z.P.A.-Reuter—Copyright) WELLINGTON, Feb. 7. Senator Edward Kennedy has alleged that about half the American aid intended for Laotian refugees goes to support operations of the Central Intelligence Agency in Laos.

The Senator from Massachusetts, who is chairman of the Senate Judiciary sub-com-mittee on Refugees, said that the C.I.A. provided support for para-military units—primitive Meo tribesmen, who have been fighting the Com-munist-supported Pathet Lao forces. , „, , , The use by the C.I.A. of funds from the Agency for International Development was investigated by the General Accounting Office, the independent investigating agency of the Congress, and Senator Kennedy’s subcommittee last year. The investigations came after a public admission by the A.I.D. director (Dr J. Hannah) that C.I.A. agents had used the aid programme as a cover in Laos. Senator Kennedy said that it was the worst kind of cynicism to provide the support under the guise of assistance for refugees. He said that the United States was probably trying to avoid openly violating the Geneva accords covering the neutrality of Laos.

A spokesman for the A.I.D. said that relatively few of

the 280,000 refugees who received support from the United States were members of para-military forces; they were “just as much refugees as others Laotians who have not been engaged in fighting.”