The Surrender

In the central-highlands town of Ban Me Thuot last week, South Viet Nam's Premier Nguyen Cao Ky became an honorary member of the Rhade tribe. It was a memorable experience. First his combat boots were washed in rice wine from a ritual jar into which the flesh of a sacrificial buffalo had been dipped. Then, as the beast's severed head and tail lay near by, a montagnard sorcerer summoned divine spirits to witness an oath of friendship, and a rebel officer swore allegiance to Saigon Finally, to seal the pledge, two smiling girls presented Ky with a tray of cop per bracelets, and he was handed a symbolic weapon--a U.S. Army M-l carbine.

With that, Ky accepted the surrender of some 500 of the most rebellious warriors of the 30-odd largely illiterate montagnard (hill people) tribes that are scattered through the empty high lands-half of South Viet Nam (TIME Oct. 2, 1964). Trouble could break out again, for the rebels demand more aid and more jobs as well as autonomous statehood for the lightly populated areas they occupy. But pointing to dozens of government posts recently handed to the montagnards, Ky for the moment had damped the smoldering discontent. His ultimate aim: to use the breathing space to bring all the montagnards back into the front line against the Viet Cong.

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