Phoumi Vongvichit
| Phoumi Vongvichit | |
|---|---|
| ພູມີ ວົງວິຈິດ | |
|
President of Laos Acting |
|
|
In office October 31, 1986 – August 15, 1991 (acting for Souphanouvong) |
|
| Prime Minister | Khamtai Siphandon |
| Preceded by | Souphanouvong |
| Succeeded by | Kaysone Phomvihane |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 6 April 1909 Xieng Khouang, Laos |
| Died | 7 January 1994 (aged 84) |
| Political party | LPRP |
Phoumi Vongvichit (6 April 1909 – 7 January 1994) was a leading figure of the Pathet Lao and an elder statesman of the Lao People's Democratic Republic.
He was born April 6, 1909 in Xieng Khouang, the son of a civil servant. He was educated in the Lao capital Vientiane, after which he joined the colonial civil service. After postings in Vientiane, Luang Prabang and Xieng Khouang, he was promoted to district chief ("chao muang") and served in Xieng Khouang (1939) and Vientiane (1940 - 1945). In January 1945 he was appointed governor ("chao khoueng") of Houaphan where he remained until the Japanese surrender in August 1945. The following month, Phoumi cooperated with Free French forces when they briefly seized the town of Sam Neua, but subsequently he joined the anti-colonialist Lao Issara movement and worked closely with the Viet Minh to oppose the return of French authority in Indochina.
In 1946, after the French reasserted their authority in Laos, Phoumi made his way to northern Thailand where for the next three years he was active in the Lao Issara. At the end of 1949, having refused to accept the offer of amnesty upon dissolution of the Lao Issara government-in-exile in Thailand, Phoumi was one of the handful of Lao who joined Souphanouvong in northern Vietnam. There he attended the founding congress of the Neo Lao Issara (the Free Laos Front). Phoumi was nominated both Secretary-General of the Front, and Minister of the Interior and Deputy Prime Minister in the Pathet Lao Resistance government that the Front established in opposition to the Royal Lao government in Vientiane. The Resistance government gained no international recognition, but Phoumi nominally retained both positions until the Geneva Agreements of 1954 brought the First Indochina War to an end.
In 1954 and 1955, Phoumi led Pathet Lao delegations in negotiations with the Royal Lao government over reintegration of the provinces of Phong Saly and Houaphan. In March 1955, Phoumi was one of the founding members of the Lao People's Party and was elected to its Political Bureau. The following January he was elected to the Central Committee of the Lao Patriotic Front (Neo Lao Hak Xat). In 1956, Phoumi continued to be involved in negotiations over integration which eventuated in the signing of a series of agreements, known as the Vientiane Agreements, the following year. These opened the way for formation of the First Coalition government in which Phoumi served as Minister of Religion and Fine Arts. (The other Pathet Lao minister was Souphanouvong at the Ministry of Economy and Plan.) From this time, Phoumi took a lively interest in the Buddhist Sangha, recognizing its potential as a propaganda organ for opposition to the Americanization of Lao society, but also as a vehicle for the propagation of Lao cultural values.
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