DEVELOPMENTS IN INDOCHINA

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP85T00875R001000090030-5
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: T
• Document Page Count: 15
• Document Creation Date: December 21, 2016
• Document Release Date: November 3, 2008
• Sequence Number: 30
• Publication Date: February 13, 1973
• Content Type: REPORT

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Top Secret
DIRECTORATE OF
INTELLIGENCE
Developments in Indochina
State Dept. review completed
Top Secret
13 February 1973
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DEVELOPMENTS IN INDOCHINA
(Information ac of 1500)
SOUTH VIETNAM
Route 14 is still blocked and Kontum
Page
1
City still isolated./
The prospect of Political struggle
L
with the Communists has started the Hoa
Hao thinking about uniting.
All indications point to an imminent
cease-fire agreement. Government units
in the panhandle are enjoying a respite.
Government forces are having little
success either east or west of the Mekong.
INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENTS 6
Hanoi is asking aid donors to get
specific about projects and prices.
Italy is prepared to open talks with Hanoi
about reco nition.
NORTH VIETNAM
Hanoi media continue to stress re-
building at home.
13 February 1973
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SOUTH VIETNAM
The Communists are continuing to isolate Kon-
tum City by strongly resisting South Vietnamese ef-
forts to reopen Route 14. Sharp fighting is ze-
ported along the highway, the only overland access
to the city. South Vietnamese ground units are be-
ing supported by tactical air strikes, now dubbed
"training missions." Elsewhere, the Communists con-
tinued small-scale attacks in widely scattered sec-
tors of the country.
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Hoa Hao Unity Effort
Leaders of six major factions of the Hoa Hao
sect, apparently prompted by the cease-fire agree-
ment and the prospect of a political struggle with
the Communists, have signed a proclamation calling
for un!.ty. This is the first time that these leaders
have agreed to sign a joint statement; it could sig-
nal an end to the years of squabbling among their
factions. One of the leaders told the US Embassy
that the prospect of Communist political agitation
and possible intensified terrorism had convinced the
factions that they must forget the..r old differences
and band together for their own protection, Another
leader described the joint proclamation as akin to
a "cease-fire" and said that a real political agree-
ment among Hoa Hao factions remains to be accomplished.
He predicted, however, that the two major. Hoa Hao
political groups would soon unite.
If the Hoa Hao do manage to set up a unified or-
ganization, it would be a significant force in the
southern part of the country. The Hoa Hao sect has
a following of some one half million people and has
considerable strength in several Mekong Delta prov-
inces. Those participating in the effort range from
government supporters to opposition groups. There
is no indication what line the merged organization
13 February 1973
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Mu Gi. 1Quong Khe
Pass
Dung I
v
Han Karai
Pass
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flan Nap,
Puss
NORTH,
Mu Gia
Pass
VIETNAM
yQuang Khe
hakhek SMayaxay
iBan duc
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i
ehateng
Government
Paksongconsoliclates control
13olovens
Plateau
Siam Pang
ghong
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~Altopeu
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I
Minor'skirmishin9
/Muong ?Tchepone
' APholane
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Phino
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The delegates at the formal session of the
Vientiane peace talks on 13 February merely went
through the moticns, while the hard daily bargain-
ing continued between senior Lao Communist nego-
tiator Phoumi Vongvichit and government pleni-
potentiary Pheng Phongsavan. Recent activity sug-
gests that an agreement may be imminent. Deputy
Prime Minister Leum Insisienmay flew to Pakse over
the weekend for consultations with Boum Oum na
Champassak, the titular leader of the rightists,
and the Lao Army general staff worked late into
the night of 12 February allegedly preparing cease-
fire instructions for government units.
A Breather in the South
Intense bombing during the past week has won
a respite for government units in the panh.ndie.
The anticipated counterattacks against government
units that retook Paksong on the central Bolovens
Plateau on 12 February have not yet materialized,
and the irregulars are consolidating their hold
over the town.
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11 (lk anam attacks
(Thnal Totun (11'
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CAMBODIA
Government troops backed by fire support from
the Cambodian Navy are making little headway in ef-
forts to regain the military initiative east of the
Mekong River in the vicinity of Neak Luong and Banam.
Khmer insurgent forces reportedly still hold Banam
and are shelling government defensive positions along
Route 15 north of that village. They are also shell-
ing Cambodian positions in and near Neak Luong. West
of the Mekong, the government has sent in an addi-
tional infantry battalion and a squadron of armored
personnel vehicles to help clear a section of Route
1 between Phnom Penh and the river. At last report,
however, the insurgents were effectively resisting
the drive to reopen the highway.
South of Phnom Penh, insurgent elements on 12
February probed six Cambodian positions on Route 2
between the small towns of Chambak and Thnal Totung.
These actiors may be designed "o keep government
troops in that area tied down while the insurgents
move supplies across the highway. This flurry of
activity also is likely to complicate government
attempts farther south to reopen Route 2 between
Takeo and the South Vietnam border.
13 February 1973
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Hanoi has given some indication of how it will
handle the numerous offers of aid coming from other
countries. On 1 February, a North Vietnamese official
in Paris informed the French Government
will choose from that list. With regard to aid
projects, Paris was told to indicate clearly the
terms and amounts of the loans and Hanoi would then
make a selection.
list of products it is prepared to offer and Hanoi
that on gift items it should submit a
The North Vietnamese official, commenting on
the large number of countries offering aid, said
that from Hanoi's point of view, it would be in-
efficient if France and the other countries were
to choose their projects. He also said that North
Vietnam will not show its reconstruction plans to
French or other foreign officials.
Hanoi's response to the French helps explain
its recent testiness with the Japanese. Tokyo has
indicated in general terms its intention to provide
aid, but has not presented any specific plans. The
instructions to the French also support other indi-
cations that Hanoi prefers aid on a bilateral basis
rather than on t e multinational basis that the
Japanese refer.
Italy appears to be moving faster than its EC
colleagues on establishing diplomatic relations with
North Vietnam, according to a State Depart-
ment cable. Rome will agree to begin talks in Peking
on 15 February if Hanoi insists, although the Italians
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have proposed beginning after the Vietnam conference
opens in Paris on 26 February.
13 February 1973
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The North Vietnamese media are continuing to
stress the line that reconstruction at home is the
North's primary task. An editorial in the party
daily on 12 February, for instance, claimed that
the Paris agreement marked the third major turning
point in the revolution; the first two being the
founding of the DRV in 1945 and the end of the war
against France in 1954. in the "new phase," the
North will work on the building of socialism,
"the development of new methods, and the creation
of new men," while South Vietnam's task will be
to "consolidate peace, and build an independent
and democratic political system and a full national
economy and culture." The editorial acknowledged
that southerners "still have to continue their
struggle studded with difficulties and hardships,"
but should work within the framework of peace and
national concord.
13 February 1973
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