page_title: Kou Voravong
section_title: Signing of the Geneva Agreements
hierarchical_section_title: Kou Voravong / Career / Signing of the Geneva Agreements
caption_attribution_description: Victory in Battle of Dien Bien Phu
context_page_description: Kou Voravong was a Laotian politician. He was part of the anti-Japanese resistance leading group during the Second World War and after then anti-Lao Issara in the post-war period. Throughout his career, from 1941 to 1954, he has been District Chief, Province Governor, member of the Lao National Assembly, and Lao Royal Government Minister.
  The political crisis caused by his assassination, barely two months after the Geneva Agreements which prepared to restore peace in Indochina, contributed to bring down the current neutralist government which was replaced by a progressive one in extremely tense atmosphere of the Cold War between Russia and the United States. From 1955 indeed, the political history of this small landlocked country fell trapped inexorably in the ideological confrontation between the capitalist United States and the communist Soviet Union, annihilating any hope of national unification.
  We can find a Kou Voravong Road in the city of Thakhek as well as in Savannakhet where his name is also given to an old stadium now a sports park. Since 1995, a statue is erected in the garden of the family residence where he lived as a child.
context_section_description: The Indochina War between France and revolutionary Việt Minh troops, led by Ho Chi Minh had been continuing since 1946. It boosted the Pathet Lao's activities, whose president was Chao Souphanouvong starting from 1950. He installed the general headquarter of the party in Xamneua, in the North Province of Houaphan.
  In 1953, when the Pathet Lao, which rebellion expended dangerously, occupied the region of Phongsali, while its allied Việt Minh troops managed to control the Tonkin penetration axes to North, threatening the royal capital Luang Prabang, Laos fully entered into the First Indochina War. On October 23, 1953, a Treaty of Amity and Association was signed and France committed to defend Laos against the advance of communist troops.  A garrison assigned under the command of General Henri Navarre – whose mission was to prevent any Việt Minh infiltration to Laos – was implanted in a strategic area, in West Tonkin, close to the Laotian border, where were some important runways connecting Luang Prabang to Diên Biên Phu Basin.
  But May 7, 1954, French soldiers suffered a bitter military setback and Diên Biên Phu's entrenched camp fell into the hands of the People's Army of Vietnam, commanded by General Võ Nguyên Giáp. Whereupon, a conference was organized on July 20 in Geneva (Switzerland) to end hostilities between the French Army and the People's Army of Vietnam, ending eight years of war in Indochina. By the same occasion, the independence of Laos and Cambodia was reaffirmed.
  At the conference, the Kingdom of Laos delegation was composed of Phoui Sananikone (minister of Foreign Affairs – leader), Kou Voravong (Minister of Defense – vice-leader) and eight members of Parliament. The members of Pathet Lao including Chao Souphanouvong, who carried North-Vietnamese passports, were integrated into the Việt Minh delegation.
  The final declaration of the Geneva Agreements provided for Laos:
  Recognition of the independence and total sovereignty of Laos.
  Recognition of Vientiane Royal Government as the legal government of Laos.
  Recognition of the « Fighting Units of the Pathet Lao » grouped in the Xam Neua and Phongsali Provinces, awaiting for their integration into the Royal Army after political settlement through free general elections planned in 1955, under the supervision of the International Commission Control (CIC).
  Withdrawal of the French and Việt Minh military troops of the territory, except for the French instructors placed at the disposal of the Laotian Army.
  Principle of neutrality which prohibited membership in military alliances and introduction of troops and foreign weapons on Laotian territory.
  Whereas all details of the cease-fire in Vietnam were settled, the agreement #3 which was equivalent to a recognition of the Pathet Lao as an official authority through its « Fighting Units », divided the royal representatives of the Laotian delegation and extended negotiations till late in the night of July 20. Shortly after midnight, despite the opinion of his delegation's leader, Phoui Sananikone, Kou Voravong finally granted to sign the final declaration, thereby closing the conference on July 21, 1954.
  In spite of significant concessions of the Pathet Lao, politically -[recognition of the Government of Vientiane]- as well as military -[withdrawals of the armed forces of the liberated zones and their grouping in Xam Neua (Houaphanh) and Phongsali Provinces] – their official establishment next to the Lao Royal Government pending elections was far from eliciting unanimity. This was particularly true for the U.S. government which refused to sign and to apply the Geneva Agreements, considering that they handed a too large victory to the Indochinese Liberation Movements, headed by the Việt Minh, and supported by China and the Soviet Union. The spectrum of the Korean War just ended is still too present, that's why Washington's policy goal from now on, was to challenge the results of such agreements.
  On September 8, 1954, at the initiative of the United States, a military organization SEATO was created. Equivalent of NATO in Sou
caption: Việt Minh's flag floating on Dien Bien Phu
exif: {"Image Software": "Google", "Image ExifOffset": "46", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0220", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "1600", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "972"}