“ _ Min Poe : from the ] National 4° fang “2! t ! No; tion alisat - formation of tific ang A six-member delegation from ae Swedish Committee for Viet- stim Laos and Cambodia visit- 5 the Democratic Republic of vietnam from Dec. 29, 1973 to aot lee 1974, at the invitation ES € Vietnam Peace Commit- paulee members had an oppor- inte to visit Quang Tri prov- da the Provisional Revolu- Sontio Government area of na letnam, while three mem- a ae to the liberated zone “0S. The interview below a See pea puanouvong conden eae nglish and re aecome _Takman, who con- mene the interview is a Com- ate member of the Swedish thiml eee who was making his cea to Indochina. He is a Se that international sup- the “we the patient policy of tang co} Patriotic Front is stry Y needed if further armed Ses 1s to be averted. ae AN: The Vientiane Te eae on Restoring Peace in ee putea Concord : Signed by both theo February 21, 1973 and ss Totocol to the Agreement as eevember 14, 1973, but we . Ware of the fact that they been implemented. the World is we coalition goy- t Nd the national poli- a Coalition council. What High mM the opinion of Your ESS, Caused the delay? ae. Vientiane Agreement spe- the i detail the cease-fire as “a pe ing. of a durable peace then S. During our journey in thet ae zone we have heard vidi ere havé been even armed 2 Se of the Agreement by ret ane _ administration. Our Highness explain to us tions? the nature of these viola- €tnment and st BS Prince Souphanouvong with Dr. John Takman, Communist member of the Swedish parliament and Mrs. Helga Henschen, artist and representative of the Swedish Social Democratic Association in Sam Neua, Liberated Zone of Laos. SOUPHANOUVONG: The signing of the Vientiane Agree- . ment and Protocal on restoring peace and carrying out national concord in Laos, documents re- cognizing the Lao _ people’s basic national rights, has been a great victory of our anti-U.S. struggle for national salvation. They paved the way for the Lao people to progress towards the target of building a peace- ful, independent, democratic, neutral, unified and prosperous Laos, and contributed to de- fending peace in Indochina, in Southeast Asia and throughout the world. For the present the U.S. has not yet broken off utterly its military involvement and med- dling dealings in Laos’ internal affairs because it-is: still hoping jto keep on its neo-colonialism in Laos. Since the Agreement was signed the Vientiane gov- ernment side has not yet of- ficially and really issued the Economic, scientific and _ technical cooperation At the ¢ gre: ; SS ee of the World i in Mog €ace Forces, held Btess igen, O°t: 25-29, the Con- & cOmmunique sum- a its work. With the ‘que were statements 4 Commissions which & the Congress. We ere, the 12th in our © statement from the ©n on Economic Scien- : echnical Cooperation. CO) ; nic Eom, Scientific and tech- Tesult a ation: is not only a Peacefy) . 2/80 a guarantee of durj Present a Series, th Missi : E obstry Coexistence, Its growth Cted not by distinctions ystems, but by ‘inter- Baek the arms race, Ological warfare. The 10n of the world situa- a8 it progresses, give inthe ste" impulse in the use ne ji Nterest of national econo- s . benefits of the inter- Scientia, “1V'Sion of labour, of (3) . < MMico.in dustecnnical and econo- Mal cooperation, es- pecially in the case o. large- scale international projects. International economic coop- eration should be based on the principles of equal rights, mutual benefit and the provision of the most favourable conditions for trade and other economic rela- tions. Attempts to impose politi- cal and discriminatory condi- tions and to interfere in the in- ternal affairs of the other side should be firmly excluded from international practice. The sys- tem of world-wide economic re- lations should conform with the interests of all concerned and, in particular, contribute to the eco- nomic independence of the de- veloping countries. Every step closer to real dis- armament is a step closer to the peaceful reconversion of the economy, offering added oppor- tunities for the development of the most effective export indus- tries and the expansion of inter- national efforts promoting scien- tific and technical progress. cease-fire order to its armed forces. U.S. planes have been carrying on spying flights over Laos’ territory, and Vientiane- side planes have been bombing and machine-gunning a few spots in our liberated area. The ultra-reactionary clique of U.S. lackey has been going on at- tacking many places in our liberated zone. They have been continuing their hindering and circling and provocative actions against positions of the patri- otic forces who have come on duty in Vientiane and Luang Prabang. Under U.S. pressure the Vien- tiane side has not yet agreed to discuss urgently and «seriously in the Central Joint Committee for Implementing the Agree- ment the complete regula- tions neutralizing Vientiane and Luang Prabang. This is ne- cessary for rapidly forming the provisional government of na- tional union and the political institutions to be immediately effective in implementing the Agreement and in administer- ing the Kingdom. And what is even more dangerous, the ultra- | reactionary clique has spread rumors that they ‘would over- throw Prince Souvanna Phou- ma a coup d’état to sabotage the already signed Agreement. The U.S. and the Vientiane side must assume alone the liability for all ill happenings. The Lao Patriotic Front’s posi- tion is to implement seriously every provision of the Vientiane Agreement and Protocal and to demand resolutely from the Vientiane side do the same. The patriotic forces resolutely resist any action violating and sabo- taging the already signed Agree- ment. They resolutely repel by all means any manoeuvres re- viving tension and aiming at perpetuating U.S. neo-colonial- ism in our country. TAKMAN: There is a great interest in Sweden in promot- ing relations with the Lao peo- ple. Would Your Highness ex- press an opinion on the future relations between our two coun- tries and peoples while there are still two zones in Laos and a coalition government? SOUPHANOUVONG: For ma- ny years, although our popula- tion in the liberated area has been occupied with the destruc- tive and protracted war, they have so far, under the leader- ship of the Central Committee of the Lao Patriotic Front, built a political and economic basis of national and popular demo- cratic nature. In this area they are really their own masters on their own land. They have con- tributed to building the econ- victories in US. continues intrigue in Laos omy, the developing culture, to edifying new life, to bettering step by step their standard of material and spiritual living. Our liberated area will go on progressing according to that trend. In conformity with the Vien- tiane Agreement pending gen- eral elections establishing the parliament and government of national union for good and all, both sides will provisionally ad- minister the zone under their control and will endeavor to implement the political platform of the provisional government of national union about which both sides have agreed. According to the spirit of the Agreement signed in Vientiane on February 21, 1973 the King- dom of Laos pursues an inde- pendent, peaceful and neutral foreign policy. The provisional government of national union is willing and ready to establish normal relations with any coun- try on the basis of respecting the independence, the sovereign- ty and the territorial integrity of each country without inter- vening in the internal affairs of each other according to the principles of equal footing and equal advantage. TAKMAN: Would Your High- ness be kind enough to address a message to the Swedish peo- ple? SOUPHANOUVONG: The Swedish people has always fol- lowed with deep sympathy and strong support the anti-U.S. struggle for national salvation of our Lao people. I should like to take this opportunity to com- mit to the care of Dr. John Tak- ‘man, member of the Swedish parliament, of Mr. Klas Thore- berg and of Mrs. Helga Hens- chen our sincere gratefulness to the Swedish people and to all Swedish democratic oganiza- tions. I should like to express wish- es for the further development of solidarity and friendship be- tween the Lao and the Swedish peoples, and for the Swedish people to gain more and more their struggle against the wars imposed by the imperialists led by the U.S. as well as for lasting world peace. growing - Opposition to Thieu SAIGON—Opposition to Gen- eral Thieu within the Saigon administration itself has recent- ly emerged in earnest. Before the vote on a_ constitutional amendment that would allow Thieu to run for president a third time in 1975, 55 parliam- entary senators and deputies of the opposition led a_ protest march through the city Jan. 15. Their banners were unequivocal: “As long as Nguyen Van Thieu remains in power, the dic- tatorship, the corruption and the war will continue,” read one. “Thieu is not interested in the poor people. The only thing that interests him is power,” stated another. “To amend the constitution is to serve Nguyen Van Thieu and to betray the people,” read a_ third. It is most significant that Sai- gon parliamentarians have con- sented to tell the truth in a public street demonstration. Opposition Formations Thanks to the parliamentary majority, elected by fraud and threats, Thieu was able to get his amendment passed. But on the Sunday (Jan. 20) morning before the vote was taken, two new opposition formations de- clared themselves. : The first, calling themselves the Parliamentary Group for the Struggle for Freedom, Demo- cracy and Peace, is composed of the 55 senators and deputies who are opposed to the mano- euvres of Thieu. The second formation, the Movement for the Application of the Paris Agreement, brings ' together most of the personal- ities of the opposition, notably ‘the lawyer Nguyen Long, who was imprisoned by Thieu, and several Buddhist monks belong- ing to the An Quang pagoda, who have never concealed their opposition to the Thieu regime. The people in this group pro- pose to jointly coordinate their struggle for the application of the Paris Agreement and have declared themselves ‘“a_ third force,” whose representatives must be seated, under the terms of the Agreement, in the Natio- nal Council of Reconciliation and Concord, beside the repre- sentatives of. the Provisional Revolutionary Government and the Saigon group. . Thieu Refusal The national Council, which should have been formed after the signing of the Paris Agree- ment last January, has never seen the light of day, as Thieu has refused to maintain the ceasefire, guarantee democratic liberties and release civilian political prisoners. Thieu also stated that the opposition “third force” does not exist, although they publicly declared them- selves and held a large demon- stration in Saigon. —Il’Humanité _ PACIFIC TRIBUNE—FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 1, 1974: PAGE9