Government of Princes

Far from the Red River delta fighting in French Indo-China lies Cambodia, southernmost of the three states (Viet Nam, Cambodia and Laos) that make up the French Indo-Chinese Union. Cambodia, too, has come in for its share of strife, at the hands of some 1,800 guerrilla bandits led by an anti-French demagogue named Son Ngoc Thanh. Like Ho Chi Minh's rebels to the north, Son Ngoc Thanh's men are ostensibly non-Communist nationalists, but they are glad to accept Communist help.

Cambodia's plump, Western-minded King Norodam Sihanouk Varden, 29, repeatedly ordered Premier Huy Kanthoul to take strong measures against the rebels. But, like the rebels themselves, dictatorial Premier Huy Kanthoul was more interested in plaguing the French than in keeping out the Reds.

Last week the King decided to take matters into his own hands. He fired Huy Kanthoul and appointed himself Premier. To man his new cabinet, he drafted a handful of Cambodian royalty, including (as Minister of Education) an able princess, Ping Pas Yukanthor. With the help of this "government of princes" the new Premier-King promises to clean up Cambodia within three years. At the end of that time, he plans to submit his actions to the judgment of a "people's court," with representatives of six foreign nations acting as impartial observers.

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