Conquest by Negotiation

LAOS Conquest by Negotiation Life in Shangri-La was never quite so dreamlike as life in Laos since that country became an independent nation 2 1/2 years ago. With the French no longer directing its political life, the unwarlike people of this Buddhist kingdom in the interior of the Indochinese peninsula relapsed into their old hedonist ways. Though Laos is practically roadless, well-to-do Laotians bought Mercedes cars and Italian scooters (with U.S. and French aid), built showy riverside houses, idled their days away in the pagoda gardens listening to Panpipe music and watching the graceful Thai dances. But a peck of trouble is in store for the pleasure-loving Laotians.

The Geneva conference that ended the Indo-China war left unsettled the status of the Communist-directed movement called Pathet Lao (estimated membership: 6,000), whose olive-green "resistance" army dominates two of Laos' twelve provinces. Because the leader of

Pathet Lao is Prince Souphanouvong, a half-brother of the Premier, Prince Souvanna Phouma, and because both brothers have sworn fidelity to aging, gout-crippled King Sisavang Vong, the Laotians have been inclined to dismiss Pathet Lao as une affaire de famille. Since August the moonfaced, Paris-educated princes have been going about the capital of Vientiane arm in arm, sipping champagne together, and promising an early settlement of their "family affair." Says trusting Prince Souvanna Phouma: "My brother has never been a Communist, only a misled patriot."

Last week, smiling broadly, Prince Souvanna Phouma announced the settlement: Pathet Lao would be integrated (i.e., legalized), not only in Laos territory, as promised at the 1954 Geneva conference, but also into the royal government and army, and it would be able to establish workers', students' and women's movements throughout the entire country. Sighed a U.S. observer: "The Royal Government of Laos is about the only government left in the world which hasn't heard of the classic Communist maneuver of conquest by truce negotiation."

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