Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - December 24, 1971, Winnipeg, Manitoba Winnipeg free december 1971 cambodians vie for top position As communists Advance by Peter Osnos phenom Cambodia special tons while enemy forces make damaging advances in the an important contest for leadership is currently taking place among Cambodia senior political and military according to diplomatic sources deals Are being struck and allegiances shifted that could when completed produce a dra Matic perhaps even the equivalent of a coup or nothing More than a reshuffling of some of the Oldperson the departure of marshal Lon the ailing head of govern ment whose Primacy is being increasingly criticized by those beneath would certainly be the most significant it is believed a Strong the marshal tried to retire last Spring but was then persuaded to stay now there Are signs he Doest want to this week he promoted to Gen eral eight officers in an apparent Effort to consolidate his to the logical successor to mar Shal Lon nol would be Sisowath Tsirik his Power Ful number two Man officially prime minister Delegate and the one favored by the embassy As the most pragmatic and Western oriented of Cam bodies top others prominently mentioned Are a former Deputy prime minister dismissed by marshal Lon nol in october after a series of differences and son Ngoc who was a prime minister 30 years ago and then went into exile he is now an adviser to the govern while none of these on the surface seem a break with the there Are indications that each is promising to Deal at Long last with the problems of corruption and inefficiency that Are crippling the who led a Cia sup ported movement against Prince Sihanouk for Many has support among Many younger military officers and is courting mayor Buddhist Tarn proved him self an Able administrator and talks much about organizing the details of the leadership Strug Gle Are difficult to follow Day to Day for even the most astute foreign observers who Only know for certain that it is going on because cambodian friends and contacts privately Tell them from these and other conver they sense also that Public and official morale has fallen sharply in recent weeks it is than at any time since War spread to the country in while the decline May merely be a passing brought on by a series of Mili tary it is still serious in a country whose major asset in a War Over which it has virtually no control has been an ardent and enthusiastic Patrio of the Young intellectuals and professionals who flocked to the government after the toppling of Prince Sihanouk Are now said to be quietly Bow ing out As they lose Faith in the ability of the regime to carry As for the beleaguered Cam Bodian some analysts be Lieve that if its fortunes continue to sink under the pressure of a determined communist Offen a government might emerge that is prepared to negotiate with the communists to prevent an outright for the first time in Cam Bodia since the fighting began p u c h a Prospect is being seriously at least in certain Small circles and always in if it came to More Likely than not the agreement would be a tacit never made to no longer one Diplomat who is especially sensitive to the current Man Euve rings believes the Cam under such an a would effectively cede control Over that portion of the country East of the Mekong River where the North vietnamese Are battling the South vietnamese this would leave a neutralized Cambodia consisting essentially of the major towns and the Rice Rich Western with communist control Over the sparsely populated North East where they held Sway since the Early Days of the critical events in Cambodia never seem to have the urgency they might but in the jockeying now going on there is an apparent awareness that while the malaise in phenom penh deepens the communists Are making military successes Are one aspect of the enemy but in the depressing picture painted this week by both cambodians and foreigners there was also talk of limited communist political Progress in organizing the population and recruiting the principal Handicap of the Sihanouk its now in peking exile and their North Vietnam Ese mentors been the Cam b o d i a n s abiding nationalism demonstrated in the raising of a Man Al Volunteer Force in a matter of the nationalism but As the fighting drags on and tens of thousands of people be come refugees largely to avoid South vietnamese and cambodian air strikes the communists Are Able to solicit support by pledging agricultural an end to corruption and lower in their favor is tight organi z a t i o n and rigid discipline which eliminates the depredations so often committed by the South vietnamese soldiers and the cambodians the North vietnamese army and Viet Cong Are ordered to pay for their food rather than steal it and keep out of the Vil Lages As much As while there were no More than a few thousand cambodian communists Khmer Rouge 20 months the prevail ing estimates now Range from to fully one third of the communist most of these recruits Are no Minally at Loyal to Prince Sihanouk National United front of for the most part they play a subordinate military role to the North vietnamese and Viet Cong but that too is said by intelligence gained from defectors to be slowly changing with a few cambodians now being Given the embassy is acutely aware of the present situation and is sending Back word to Washington in what surely must be the gloomiest cables since the very Early Days of the Lon nol on the military there is precious Little the americans can do beside pass along equip ment and Hope that is being used on the political pressure can be More of patience with Lon nol appears to be fraying there is now disparaging talk among the americans about the marshals diminished grasp since his stroke last february but the awareness persists that he carries symbolic weight As the Leader of the what the americans would doubtless although none says so is Elevation of Lon nol to a meaningless 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