Khamtay Siphandone

Khamtay Siphandone

Khamtay Siphandone (born February 8, 1924 in Houa Khong , Champasak Province , then French Indochina ) is a Laotian general and politician . He was head of government from 1991 to 1998, general secretary of the Lao People's Revolutionary Party (LRVP) from 1992 to 2006 and president of the country from 1998 to 2006.

Live and act

Khamtay comes from a farming family in the extreme south of Laos. His first job was as a postman. After the end of the Second World War, he joined the national liberation movement Lao Issara , which advocated Laos independence and against the return of the French protectorate administration. Before the French regained control of Savannakhet in March 1946 , Khamtay took the entire provincial treasury (150,000 piasters ). He became an officer in the movement's armed wing and in 1948 its representative for southern Laos. After the split in Lao Issara, he joined the pro-communist Pathet Lao in 1950 .

In 1954 he became a member of the Communist Party of Indochina , in 1955 of the Lao People's Party (today LRVP), of which he was a member of the Central Committee from 1957. He was considered a close confidante of the first General Secretary Kaysone Phomvihane . In 1962 he succeeded him as chief of staff of the armed units of the Pathet Lao. In 1966 he became commander-in-chief of the resulting "Laotian People's Liberation Army", which fought against the royal troops with North Vietnamese support in the Laotian civil war . In 1972 he rose to the Politburo of the LRVP.

After the Communists came to power in 1975, he became Minister of Defense and Deputy Chairman of the Council of Ministers. He held this office for 16 years. After Kaysone and Nouhak Phoumsavanh , he was number three in the party leadership from the 5th party congress in 1991. On August 15, 1991 he succeeded Kaysone as head of government. However, under the new constitution, this office had lost some of its influence over the state president. After the death of long-time party leader Kaysone in 1992, Khamtay rose to the head of the state party LRVP.

On February 24, 1998, he succeeded Nouhak Phoumsavanh as the fifth President of the Lao People's Democratic Republic. At the 8th party congress of the LRVP on March 21, 2006, Khamtay resigned as general secretary in favor of his former comrade in arms, Lieutenant General Choummaly Sayasone . This followed him on June 8 of the same year in the office of President. Khamtay also ensured that his protégé Bouasone Bouphavanh became the new head of government and his son became governor of Champasak. As a result, he continued to exert significant influence on Laotian politics even after his official departure.

Individual evidence

1. ^ ^{A b} Martin Stuart-Fox : Historical Dictionary of Laos. 3rd edition, Scarecrow Press, 2008, p. 159.
2. ^ ^{A b} Stuart-Fox: Historical Dictionary of Laos. 2008, p. 160.
3. ↑ Stuart-Fox: Historical Dictionary of Laos. 2008, p. 161.