CEASE- FIRE DEVELOPMENTS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP85T00875R000700010039-8
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 8
• Document Creation Date: December 15, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 22, 2003
• Sequence Number: 39
• Publication Date: June 5, 1973
• Content Type: REPORT

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Sand
Cea e-t'Zre lieve (A/Jrh'ntS
State Department review completed
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SMW
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5 June .1973
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~Cuase-ire Deval9pmerits
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CONTENTS
SOUTH VIETNAM .. ... .. 1
The Military Situation
Latest Communist Instructions on
Cease-Fire
Thieu Orders Reopening of Major
Highway
Hoa Hao Leader Softens Anti-Communist
Attitude
The Military Situation
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SOUTH VIETNAM
. ................. .. .
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district capital of Cai Lay..
Thr. Hilt tury :>ituatiort
The localized flare-pupa that have occurred
aroui. i the country in the past fctw days appear to
be the result of government offortze to got a foot-
hold in Communist areas before a now cease-fire.
The heaviest fJ ghting has been in Dann Tuar g Prov-
ince, where the Communists ambushed and mauled
elements of a South Vietnamese regiment trying to
move into a long tine Viet Cone; .base area Haar the
ni.s s va let up on their ground s but are
continui3.,J artillery anki rocket fire against scat-
tered government positioi's near the city.. South
Vietnamese commanders throughout the country are
keeping their units on precautionary alert for a
Communist "'land-grab," but most apparently do not
believe the Communists will attempt it-at least
not on a wide scale. There are indications:, in fact,
that the Communists have pulled back or r_estr.ictad
the movement of some main force units.
Latent Communist Inotructiono on "Cease- ire"
The Communists apparently are not planning any
widespread military action pending 'the outcome of
the next suasion of the Paris talks between 'Le Duc
Tho and Dr.. Kissinger. In a briefing for provincial
cadre on -2B May., a COBVN spokesman ,reportedly said
that the coming talks will "clarify" several points
of the January cease-fire, to "the benefit of the
Communists. He added that -the party committee will
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"await the ronulta before issuing additonal guir1--
ance., since Saigon "may go back on its word" as he
claimed it did lcwt October.
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The Con nuniuts' primary tauk, nwanwhilc., is
still to reuiut Saigon's efforts to "encroach upon
the liberated arctic," and main force units are to
maintain territorial control "an it is today" rather
than "try to expand it." The spokesman warned that
it might be nec6asary for Ccaanuniut forcers to re-
capture a few "selected" areas of "strategic im-
portance" before a final agreement is reached on
the demarcation of territories. He cautioned,
however, that starting an "all-out offensive" dike
the land-grabbing effort that accompanied the cease-
fire ugrekament in late January would be "oliticall
uriProf "
F
Thies Ordcra liooparting of Major Highway
in Paris may have prompted Saigon to order a serious
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According to Military Region 3 commander Gen-
eral Minh, President Thi?u has ordered Route 13 re-
opened to An Loc, north of Saigon, before noon on
8 June. Minh told the US consul general in Bien Hoa
he expects to begin the operation by tomorrow and
it will take an army division with ranger and air
support to "get the job done." Minh also said he
expects "opposition" from the Communists but is
a on A' i d n ...j n cee l-
it ,7ani ~." 416-hat- ~. the 4^%..stii.V1. o
oper ;..i1~ Y11C...YY? -~:...
though Minh has found reasons to sidetrack previous
orders to reopen some .20 rile of highway held by
the Communists between Lai Khe and An Lac,, the con-
sul general believes the stress on corridors and
delineation of borders in the current round of talks 25X1
effort to reopen the roadway.
Hoa Hao Loader So f'teno Anti-Communist Anti tudc
Retired general Lam Thanh Nguyen, a prominent
leader of the normally hard-line anti-Communist Hoa
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Ht o uaat, told U6 iiibauoy oifiaurn last weekend
that the lion Ha:o must find a way to and the
fighting with the Viet Cong.. fie. thinks that the
Thinu government should aooperat!-t., and asserted
that Saigon" s intransigence was making a compromise
arrangement unnecessarily difficult.
Nguyen apparently has considerable influence
.among the Hoa, Hao, but it in ;not clear how many
members of the sect share his views on tho peace
issue.
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CAMBODIA
'l'int Mi I-i,tarjl ;'i:tu(atio,z
Communist activity on 4 and 5 Jura was limited
to light probes against government positions along
Routes 3 and 26, south and west of 'Phnom Penh. on
5 June, the government began a five-battalion sweep
operation j unt north of Tram ! Khnar ;near Route 3,
but at last.,report had made little progress. A
similar operation along Route 26 has also made scant
progress. Repairs to Route 5 northwest of Phnom
:Penh are almost comp. ate., and the first convoy to
use the roadway since early April in scheduled ten-
'tativaly for. 5 June.
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5 June 1973
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