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Salient. Victoria University Student Newspaper. Volume 36, Number 1. 28th February 1973

Self Determination for the South Vietnamese

Self Determination for the South Vietnamese

In Article 9 the D.R.V. and the U.S.A. agreed that the South Vietnamese people's right to self determination is sacred and inalienable and shall be respected by all countries. The South Vietnamese shall decide their political future through genuinely free and democratic elections under international supervision.

The two South Vietnamese parties pledged they would ensure democratic liberties and prohibit all acts of reprisal. They agreed to establish a tripartite National Council of National Reconciliation and Concord, consisting of the P.R.G., the Thieu regime and the neutralist forces. Operating on the basis of unanimity of decision, the Council will organise free and democratic general elections and decide the procedures for these elections.

These provisions of the agreement which relate to South Vietnam's political future are extremely significant.

The Agreement recognises that there are two administrations in South Vietnam with equal rights. The N.F.L. of South Vietnam (the major force in the P.R.G.) was established in 1960 to overthrow the American hireling regime in Saigon by means of an armed struggle. Successive regimes in Saigon have always denied that the N.F.L. or the P.R.G. had any legitimacy whatsoever, and the fact that Thieu had to sign an agreement recognising the P.R.G. as an equal administration shows just how far the Americans capitulated in the negotiations. While the P.R.G. has not yet won its final victory the provisions of the Agreement establishing it as an administration equal to that of Thieu are clearly a great political and military success on the way.