Evening star., 1961-05-07
Street Scene

About the only thing sure in
Laos Is uncertainty.
This is just as true Of the Ameri-
can Embassy as Of the royal gov
ernment, of the girls at the Lido
or the correspondents at the Con-
stellation Hotel.
Answers are plentiful. But II
there is a truth. it is difficult, If
not impossible to find.
For example:
Supposedly it was q phony war,
and neither the Pathet Lao nor
the anti-Communist forces want
ed to fight.
Yet large numbers were killed,
wounded, and MANNED on both
sides.
Or:
Corruption stories about United
States aid. which has run to al
most q third of a billion dollars
in the last six years, are q dime q
dozen - including millions for
roads that were never built, and
so on.
But others will claim that after
initial mistakes, the lives Of one
million Lao who reside in the
valleys had begun to be affected,
that at least a few had come to
understand that the world is not
flat and not exclusively inhabited
by their relatives.
In Search Of a Stote
Others will say that no Laos
government could be effective,
because this is not really q nation,
but a collection of river valley
settlements in search Of a state.
And this will be contradicted by
those who maintain that only the
princes have any political con-
sciousness and that all the shoot
ing has concerned their rivalry
for power.
The day Of the Anglo Russian
call for q cease fire would be fairly
indicative of the evaporation to
be found in trying to analyze what
is happening in Laos and why:
In the morning, the British
Ambassador held a press confer
ence at which he expressed modi-
fled optimism about the probable
success Of the cease fire and the
peace conference to follow.
This was succeeded by an off
the-record conference in which
the same diplomat was kinder to
the Americans and harsher to the
Communists than recent British
policy on Laos would warrant.
Then came an off-the-record
meeting with a source who cannot
be identified in any way. but who
was pessimistic about the whole
proceedings.
At this point. those interested
began to express a great deal Of
curiosity about the military situ-
alton: In other words, where
cease fire lines might be drawn
and who might get what.
Possible Embarrassment
II the Laos government knew,
it was not telling. Because Of the
holidays proclaimed in connection
with cremating the body of the
late king, government offices were
closed. Those officials not in the
royal capital 300 kilometers north
were innpOSSible to find
Others who might have known
declined to comment on the rea-
sonable ground that it might
enbarraSs the government.
Some cynics even doubted that
the government would know where
its troops were or what they were
doing.
Yet at this very moment, hell
copters were ferrying reinforce
ments to a town only 10 miles
south Of Vientiane, and came
under considerable mortar fire
from Pathet Lao forces.
Although the Soviet Union and
Great Britain had called for q
cease fire some hours before, no
one then had the fainteSt idea Of
where or when the opposing sides
would make contact to establish
the apparatus for such a truce.
AS Of yesterday, the two sides
had held two sessions at the valley
OF Hin Heup, but were quarreling
over future sites.
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