"Sign It! Sign It!"

The U.S. withdrawal from Viet Nam and Cambodia was filled with high drama; in Laos the scene is more like farce. Throughout much of last week, U.S. Charge d'Affaires Christian A. Chapman had to suffer the jeers and insults of a ragged band of leftist students as he tried to negotiate an end to their occupation of the USAID offices in the capital of Vientiane. This was once the headquarters of thousands of Americans who dispensed millions of dollars a year. Now it held only three trapped Americans living on C rations and candy bars.

The students, charging that USAID was formerly a cover for CIA activities, and that much aid money tended to end up in the pockets of corrupt officials, seized the compound two weeks ago. They were supported, at least at first, by some Laotian employees of the agency who agreed with the students' charges; more important, they had the backing of the Communist-led Pathet Lao, whose soldiers lounged around the compound throughout the occupation. The Pathet Lao presence, in fact, became significant when, after several days of protest, a group of 200 Laotian USAID employees sent a delegation to neutralist Premier Souvanna Phouma to ask that the siege be called off. Though politely received by the Premier, the delegation was rudely dispersed soon afterward by pistolwaving Pathet Lao troops, who arrested and briefly held four people.

The students had already ignored an order from Souvanna Phouma that the occupation be ended, thus forcing Charge Chapman to deal directly with them and the Pathet Lao. After several long, difficult negotiating sessions--held inside the Interior Ministry building while students outside shouted at Chapman, "Sign it! Sign it!"--an agreement was finally worked out.

It stipulated that the AID compound be restored to American control, but it also required the U.S. to withdraw all American AID personnel and third-country employees of the mission from Laos by the end of this month. After a one-minute filmed signing of the agreement, and a seven-hour delay by the students the next day, the occupation ended. The three Americans, two Marine guards and a civilian who had barricaded themselves inside the compound for a week, emerged tired and worn, but unharmed. "It was one week in hell," said Sergeant Donald E. Wilburn, 26, of Osgood, Ind.

Steady Stream. The students' victory was, in a way, Pyrrhic. USAID had been the largest single employer in the entire country after the Vientiane government itself, and it was still handing out $32 million in economic aid this year (the equivalent of $10 per Laotian). Pathet Lao representatives said they wanted U.S. aid to continue without any supervision, but that seems unlikely. As of last week, the steady stream of departing Americans had reduced the U.S. presence in Laos from more than 1,000 a month ago to about 250.

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