A Prince for Peace

As world capitals go, Vientiane is, well, a little different. The main boulevards are rutted dirt roads; water buffalo languidly nibble garbage in its gutters, and in the White Rose nightclub, bar girls dance naked with the customers. Vientiane's architectural showpiece, a soaring monument to the dead, is mockingly called the "great vertical runway" -- not because it leads straight to heaven, but because it is made of concrete diverted from an airport improvement project. Yet for all its oddities, Vientiane is the only Southeast Asian capital where real progress is currently being made toward ending hostilities.

The instrument of peace is a protocol agreement on reconciliation signed this month by representatives of the Laotian government and the pro-Communist Lao Patriotic Forces, formerly known as the Pathet Lao. The meticulously detailed accord establishes a provisional coalition government in which each side will have five Cabinet ministers, including a Deputy Premier apiece. The present Laotian government will retain five portfolios -- finance, defense, interior, health and education. The Communists will be in charge of foreign affairs, information, public works and transportation, economic planning, tourism and religion. (Nearly all Laotians are Buddhist, including most of the Communists.) The top post of Premier will go to an individual who is "not affiliated with either one of the two parties." He is certain to be neutralist Prince Souvanna Phouma, 72, who has ruled Laos, if anyone can be said to have done so, for 17 of the past 20 years. A permanent government is to be chosen in general elections, though no date is mentioned. King Savang Vatthana, who is revered by leftists and rightists alike, will remain Laos' constitutional monarch.

Although two previous attempts at setting up a coalition government for Laos (in 1957 and 1962) ended in failure, many foreign diplomats believe that the new accord has a good chance of succeeding. For one thing, the languid, peace-loving Laotians have been steadily involved in the Southeast Asia war since the mid-1960s, and clearly are more than ready to see an end to hostilities. One hopeful sign: the number of reported military incidents has dropped from a high of 223 a week last February to about three or four a week. Yet another favorable omen is that Hanoi raised no obstacles to the settlement, and both Hanoi and Peking are preparing to return their ambassadors to Vientiane.

Two of Laos' near neighbors, Thailand and South Viet Nam, are clearly worried about the impact of a neutralist government in Vientiane. By contrast, Washington is taking a wait-and-see attitude. One provision of the protocol calls for the withdrawal of all foreign troops from Laos -- meaning about 200 American "experts," 8,000 U.S.-paid Thai mercenaries and North Vietnamese troops now estimated to number 60,000. American military advisers see no reason why the North Vietnamese should not comply. As one U.S. military expert puts it, "they can be back in Laos in 48 hours." Moreover, the North Vietnamese are no longer wholly dependent on the Ho Chi Minh Trail in Laos as a supply route to South Viet Nam: Highway 14 across the Communist-controlled DMZ has been reopened.

Both Communist and non-Communist Laotians are looking to Souvanna Phouma for guidance. He is expected to shortly announce the convening of a joint commission charged with carrying out the peace agreement. According to Souvanna, the coalition government will be formed by Oct. 10. He believes that the threat of a Communist takeover in Laos has been exaggerated. "The Laotian people," he confided to friends, "are too easygoing to be Communists."

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