Laos, 1969

87. Madam President, my delegation is happy to add its voice, with all

the warmth and sympathy of a member of the Afro-Asian

group, to the mounting chorus of tributes and compliments

addressed to you on your unanimous election to the

presidency of this session of the Assembly. In the great

honour paid to you today, my delegation sees a well-deserved

tribute to your devotion to this Organization, to

your talents, to your qualities of heart and mind, and to the

personage that you are in your own country; and so,

through you personally, we honour your country itself

today. We are convinced that, under your enlightened

presidency, our discussions will proceed with all the desired

justice and objectivity.

88. At the beginning of this twenty-fourth session of the

General Assembly, our thoughts naturally turn also towards

the delegation of Guatemala, homeland of Mr. Emilio

Arenales, the eminent President of our twenty-third session,

who was suddenly snatched away from our friendship and

affection at the very time when he was able to give most of

himself, his knowledge and his ability to the common,

universal cause.

89. Since we have the opportunity, my delegation is also

pleased to express once again to U Thant, the Secretary-General,

our admiration for all his efforts to promote peace

and for the overwhelming and difficult responsibility he

shoulders in our Organization.

90. It has become an established fact that for many years

at every General Assembly session the various countries,

through the authorized voice of their representatives, draw

attention to the difficulties of our Organization, its

inability to ensure respect for and implementation of its

most serious decisions, and the consequent impunity

enjoyed by certain States guilty of reprehensible acts.

91. In the face of the equanimity displayed by some

States in violating the Charter, in the face of the levity with

which they contravene its provisions, in the face even, in

some cases, of the premeditation of such offences, it is

natural that a breath of disappointment and frustration

should pass over our Assembly.

92. When the Charter came into being twenty-five years

ago, all hearts were uplifted by a great hope, especially in

countries such as my own which have no trained armies to

impose respect, no thermo-nuclear bombs to induce fear,

and which rely on the goodwill of others to be able to live

in peace and to forge their future in accordance with the

aspirations of their people.

93. In that document, the Charter, which represents the

fruit of the widest collaboration of men and nations, and

the drawing up of which was inspired by the horror,

disasters and incalculable consequences of the last war, it is

stated in Chapter I, dealing with the purposes and principles

of the United Nations, that the United Nations must be

“a centre for harmonizing the actions of nations in the

attainment of these common ends”, namely, friendship,

co-operation and the maintenance of international peace

and security.

94. Despite that solemn declaration, to which all Members

of the United Nations, large and small, great Powers and

developing countries, have subscribed, the spectacle we are

witnessing today is deeply disappointing.

95. Many fires of war are being kindled or continue to

burn in many areas of the earth, despite the lessons of

history and despite the firmest declarations, unqualified

promises and duly recorded signatures. Whether in Europe,

the Middle East, South-East Asia or South Africa, tense and

explosive situations exist. The list of victims and of acts of

destruction grows longer with each passing day.

96. My delegation appeals to the conscience of all countries

to put an end to these deadly combats, this immense

waste of life and property, so as to bring about a return to

international morality and to peace and security.

97. Not long ago, all mankind acclaimed man’s first

landing on the moon. There can be no denying that this

represents an unexampled scientific exploit. We feel,

however, that it would be vain to conquer space as long as

the Powers which have the means to do so still do not

possess the morality or real determination required to bring

about the rule of order, peace and security on earth.

98. I have thought it necessary to make this lengthy

preamble before describing to you the situation in my

country, the Kingdom of Laos, where for more than twenty

years a deadly and devastating war has been waged—a

“forgotten war“, in the words of our Prime Minister, His

Highness Prince Souvanna Phouma.

99. This term “forgotten war” should not be misunderstood

to mean a war undeserving of attention. On the

contrary, the ravages of the war are great and out of all

proportion to the resources of the country and to the size

of its population.

100. It is “forgotten” because such is the will of the States

which are involved in it and which have provoked it.

101. Those responsible are well known to you: first, the

Democratic Republic of Viet-Nam; secondly, all who

support and assist it in its reprehensible acts; and, thirdly,

all who solemnly undertook to defend and guarantee the

neutrality and sovereignty of Laos and who have broken

both their oath and their signed word.

102. At present more than 600,000 people, one fifth of

the total population, have fled the tyranny and privations

imposed by the rebels and their protectors to seek refuge in

more clement areas, under the protection of the Royal

Government. The long list of acts of sabotage and of

destruction of public works and public utilities is endless.

At the end of every dry season, numbers of bridges, only

just repaired, are destroyed, irrigation and hydro-electric

dams are put out of operation and work on many

construction sites is hampered by threats, kidnappings and

assassinations. And this has been the situation for more

than twenty years.

103. In these circumstances it is easy to imagine the

immense difficulties facing the Royal Government in its

determined efforts to promote the economic progress of

the Kingdom and to overcome its great backwardness in

relation to the modern world.

104. The war in Laos is, without any doubt, an unjust,

amoral and unwarranted war, from whatever angle it may

be viewed.

105. It is unjust because it was not the Laotians who

provoked it. My country is well aware of its military

strength, or rather weakness; it cannot be a threat to

anyone. It has neither a political ideology to spread or to

impose, nor any annexationist designs, nor any desire to

engage in intrigue for anyone’s benefit. My country has

been known from the most remote times for its devotion to

peace and tranquillity, for its great tolerance and for its

Buddhist philosophy.

106. We are also aware of our geographical situation at the

cross-roads where antagonistic ideas and systems come face

to face. It is at cross-roads that accidents occur—we are well

aware of that and we have not failed to observe the utmost

severity in our conduct.

107. In this spirit we have pushed our scruples to the very

limit. We know that a State, a Government worthy of the

name, will never look kindly on the installation on its

flanks of a systematically hostile régime with which there

would be neither room for negotiation nor possibility of

coexistence. We have always refused to adopt any tandem

position, despite advice, manoeuvres, pressures or the

tempting offers dangled before us.

108. The reason why we are neutral—as we have solemnly

proclaimed, demonstrated in our institutions and translated

in our actions—is that, in the first place, neutrality accords

with our nature, with the aspiration of our people for a

harmonious order without diktats and without undue

prohibitions, and that it conforms to the expression of our

religious beliefs and to our behaviour in social life.

109. The reason why we are neutral—we went to Geneva

in 1954 and 1962 to have that status conferred on us in

accordance with our wishes—is also that we wish to avoid

any confrontation, on our soil and to our detriment, of

foreign forces, in order not to have to take sides in a

combat which bodes only ruin and mourning for our people

and to remove any reason for distrust or suspicion based on

connivance, complicity or alliance with one party or the

other.

110. Despite all these measures, aimed at preventing war

and resulting from the state of war, what do we see in

return? North Viet-Namese troops whose numbers exceed

40,000 men are occupying our territory and providing

officers to the Laos rebels to harass, attack and besiege

Government posts. A motor road, misnamed the “Ho Chi

Minh trail”, constructed, maintained and guarded by Hanoi

soldiers, uses several hundred kilometres of Laotian territory

to enable Hanoi to carry to other regions and

countries the seeds of war and subversive intrigue which it

has initiated.

111. We have hoped, and we continue to hope, that our

country might play the role of a buffer, a neutral

framework where the antagonists, abandoning their distrust

and their extreme demands, would begin to contemplate a

peaceful coexistence. Unfortunately, this principle of

peaceful coexistence, which everyone agrees should be the

main pillar of modern international life, is far from being

established in Laos or anywhere else in the world.

112. This war in Laos is amoral because the Democratic

Republic of Viet-Nam abuses its military and demographic

power and because it shamelessly denies what is self-evident.

No denial can hide the actual existence of the Ho

Chi Minh trail. No communiqué, however adroit, can

conceal the presence of those soldiers in Laos, because the

hundred-odd prisoners whom we have captured can at any

moment bear witness to their presence.

113. It is amoral because certain States or Powers which

are signatories of the Geneva Agreements of 1962 and

guarantors of the neutrality and sovereignty of Laos refuse,

either through complicity or calculation, or simply through

negligence or lack of interest, to honour their promises and

their signatures.

114. We have kept the relevant organs of the Geneva

Conference informed of each of the many violations and

hostile acts committed. We cannot but realize, however,

that our representations have almost always been in vain.

Because of the undisguised ill-will of one of its members,

we have encountered virtual immobility on the part of the

International Supervision and Control Commission responsible

for supervising the implementation of the Agreements,

recording violations and establishing responsibility.

115. As far as the co-Chairmen, the highest authority of

the Geneva Conference, are concerned, we have always

been disappointed at not finding the understanding that we

have a right to expect. To this day we have not succeeded,

through the joint authority of the two co-Chairmen, in

having the various signatories of the Agreements notified of

our appeals and protests.

116. Lastly, it is amoral to connect the war in Laos with

the Viet-Nam conflict. It is an entirely arbitrary act to link

the destiny of a people with the outcome of a conflict to

which it is totally alien. We are convinced that no legal

system in the world could ever justify that.

117. The war in Laos is, moreover, unwarranted because

as is well known, Laos has no military bases from which

attacks are made against the Democratic Republic of

Viet-Nam and because Laos has never harboured troops

fighting against the Democratic Republic of Viet-Nam.

118. True to its word, as specified in paragraph 4 of the

Declaration on the Neutrality of Laos, the Royal Laotian

Government has not acceded to any military alliance or any

agreement of a military character and does not recognize

the protection of any alliance or military coalition, including

the South East Asia Treaty Organization (SEATO).

119. Certain frankly partisan spirits claim that the hostilities

in Laos are conducted exclusively by the Pathet Lau,

the rebels against the Royal Government. In this connexion

I should like to refresh the memories of representatives and

recall that the Pathet Lao is nothing more or less than a

creation of the Democratic Republic of Viet-Nam, which

invented the whole thing for its own ends in 1954. The

leaders of the Pathet Lao are former members of the Issara

movement, the initiator of Laotian independence, who

were expelled from the group with good reason, because

they blindly served the subversive and annexationist designs

of their protectors in Hanoi. From a strength of approximately

2,000 partisans in 1954, the Pathet Lao has

increased tenfold in fifteen years through the systematic

kidnapping of young men from the rural areas by Hanoi,

which instructs and indoctrinates them and then sends

them to carry out their shameful task, its purpose being to

undermine and destroy the independence and sovereignty

of their country.

120. Others, no less partisan, criticize us for having tried

to obtain weapons and launch counter-attacks. As will be

seen, this is a matter of self-defence, of our survival as a

people and a nation. In the face of marked aggression, our

handicap is not sufficient reason for not defending our

country, weapons in hand, and with all the.means that the

situation demands.

121. Some States and Governments in the international

political arena sympathize with the Democratic Republic of

Viet-Nam, while others criticize and condemn it. I do not

wish here to attempt to pass judgement in favour of the one

Side or against the other. What my Government wishes to

point out above all else, at this twenty-fourth session of the

General Assembly, is the attitude of the Democratic

Republic of Viet-Nam to my country. The facts are

eloquent and irrefutable; they speak for themselves. I am

sure that your judgement will be only the logical consequence

of those facts.

122. For more than twenty years, North Viet-Namese

soldiers have occupied part of our territory, using it to

dispatch men, material, weapons and supplies to other

fronts. How can such acts be described except by saying

that their perpetrators and Government are guilty of

flagrant territorial violations?

123. During the same period, the Democratic Republic of

Viet-Nam, which created the Pathet Lao, has directed,

aided and supported it in its ambition to seize power by

force of arms, by illegal and unconstitutional means. In

everyday terms as well as in the political vocabulary, is not

this known as interference in the affairs of a country?

124. In order to dispel any misunderstanding, I hasten to

add that the Pathet Lao representatives have abandoned

their posits in the Government of their own will, in order to

resort to armed struggle in accordance with the directives of

their protectors. Whatever their argument, whatever the

skill of their protectors in disguising the truth, they will

never be able to find any justification or basis for their

conduct or their acts, since even today their places in the

Government are still marked, and discussions and negotiations

could begin there at any time on any matter on which

they are opposed to the other parties in the Government

coalition.

125. Lastly, through the battles which they wage against

Government troops on territory over which they have taken

temporary control, the soldiers of the Democratic Republic

of Viet-Nam have engaged in propaganda whose violence

and hostility to the Royal Government can readily be

imagined, and in indoctrination the basis of which has

nothing in common with Laotian tradition. Is not this what

is called outright aggression and open subversion?

126. Since 1954, since 1962, the Democratic Republic of

Viet-Nam has violated all the restrictions laid down in the

Geneva Agreements guaranteeing the sovereignty, territorial

integrity and neutrality of Laos. Can it be said, after that,

that the Democratic Republic of Viet-Nam respects international

agreements?

127. I do not wish to take up your time by recalling from

the beginning all the armed operations engaged in by the

Democratic Republic of Viet-Nam in Laos. I shall confine

myself today to the attacks it has launched since the last

dry season, which will make it possible for us fully to

appreciate its responsibility, its defiance of laws and

conventions, and all the harm it is doing to my country.

128. On 26 November 1968 three battalions of the

Democratic Republic of Viet-Nam attacked Thateng in

Saravene province. Another attack took place on 13

December, when 80 per cent of the centre was destroyed.

On the morning of 1 March 1969 the Nakhang post was

brutally attacked by combined Pathet Lao and North

Viet-Namese forces. The North Viet-Namese forces, numbering

five battalions, belonged to the 148th regiment of

the 316th Division. The post had to be abandoned and

97,000 refugees had to leave their land. On 12 March 1969

a North Viet-Namese commando unit attacked the airfield

of the Royal City of Luang Prabang. There was no doubt

about the nationality of the three enemy soldiers captured

on that occasion. On 24 June 1969 Muong Soui was

attacked by seven North Viet-Namese battalions. All the

attacking units were identified. They were the 766th doan,

the commanding regiment for the North Viet-Namese

troops in Upper Laos, the 148th and 174th independent

regiments of the 316th Division and the 12th, 34th and

924th regiments. Two hundred defenceless refugees were

massacred at Ban Cat, near Muong Soui. In their offensive

against Muong Soui, in order to prevent the arrival of help,

the North Viet-Namese cut and put out of service the road

from Vientiane to Luang Prabang, the reconstruction of

which had only just been completed after two years of

effort, constant labour and financial sacrifice. Fourteen

metal bridges were destroyed by the North Viet-Namese in

Central and Lower Laos in January alone.

129. That is what happened in a single season, and the

situation has not changed for more than twenty years.

130. It is not out of deliberate egoism that my delegation

has limited its contribution in this general discussion to a

report on the situation in Laos. We wished first of all to

give a full, objective and accurate account to all the

countries that have undertaken to guarantee the independence,

sovereignty, territorial integrity and neutrality of

Laos, and to remind them of their responsibility.

131. There are in this hall representatives of ten of the

thirteen countries that were signatories of the 1962 Geneva

Agreements guaranteeing the independence, territorial

integrity, sovereignty and neutrality of Laos. I solemnly

appeal to them to invite their Governments fully and

sincerely to assume their responsibility under the obligations

they have contracted.

132. in their Declaration on the Neutrality of Laos, the

thirteen signatories of the 1962 Geneva Agreements recognized

and maintained that they were “profoundly convinced that the

independence and neutrality of the Kingdom of Laos will assist...the

strengthening of peace and security in South-East Asia”.

133. It is stated day after day in this Assembly that peace

is indivisible, and that violations of the letter and the spirit

of the Charter must cease everywhere and at all times. It is

the duty of all Members of the United Nations to help to

remedy the situation and to ensure respect for the purposes

and principles of the Charter, as specified in Article 2 (6) of

the Charter, which states:

“The Organization shall ensure that States which are

not Members of the United Nations act in accordance

with these Principles so far as may be necessary for the

maintenance of international peace and security.”