Viet Nam Disintegrating
Southern Viet Nam, whose Emperor sits in Cannes and sends vague telegrams which seem to influence the situation neither one way nor another, is not making much of its independence. The Prime Minister, Ngo Dinh Diem, has tried to strengthen his sickly Government by bringing in representatives of the Hoa-Hao and Caodaist sects, each of which has a private army enforcing theocratic authority over large regions of Coch in- China-. He has also outlined a grandiose programme of reform, But the Deputy Prime Minister, Nguyen Van Xuen, passed judgement on these changes and promises by resigning and lending his support to the Vietnamese Chief of Staff, General Hinh, in his policy of resistance to the Government. Behind General Hinh is the national army. The Prime Minister has consistently failed in his attempts to persuade General Hinh to relinquish his command and take a long leave in Paris, nor has he been able to find anyone willing and able to succeed this intransigent soldier. And so the Prime Minister and the Chief of Staff sit well guarded in their respective headquarters and exchange abuse while the country drifts towards the brink of civil war. The southward move of refugees from communist territory continues, but there is disturbing news of a counter- movement northward by young men sick of the political con- fusion in the south. An inept censorship ensures the spread of alarm and confusion. As to the French military authorities in Saigon, they seem to be exclusively preoccupied with an inquiry into the defeat at Dien Bien Phu which can do nobody any good. The assurance, by the chairman of the international commission, that the armistice arrangements are working well enough is the only morsel of good news from this part of the world.
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