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The Souphanouvung , a member af the royal house of Luang Prabang , revolutionary nasionalist and founding , member of the Lao Communist movement , was born in 1912, one of 23 children sired by the Luang Prabang viceroy , or second king , Boun khong . As son of Boun Khong , by this eleventh wife , Souphanouvong automatically acquired the status of the royal prince at birth , as had his elder brother Phetersrat and Souvana Phouma , born to the victory 's first wife , and SouvanaVanaath , born to his ninth wife
All four sons would grow go on to play important roles in the goverment of independent Laos , though public attention focused largely on the political rivarly between two of then half brothers , Souvana Phouma and Souphanaouvong . The formed served as prime minister of the royal Lao Government on six separated occasion between independences in 1953 and the communist seizure of power in 1975 , whilst the left leaning Suphanouvuong took to the jungle in pursuit of the revolutionary goals which earned him the " THE RED PRINCE " .
As young man
in Luang Prabang ,
Souphanavoung studied
under France teachers before being enrolled in the Lycee Albert Sarraut in Hanoi
-the beginning of a relationships with Vietnam which would last a life time . he
showed a natural aptitude for languanges , becoming fluent in French ,
Vietnamese and English . After studying in France he returned to In do china
where he married a Vietnamese girl and become involved in the
anti-colonial movement , being wounded in fighting with the French at Tha
Khaek , on the Mekhong , in
1946.
In 1953 the French laid the foundations of the Royal Lao Goverment which would function under a succesion of conservative prime ministers including two of of Souphanaouvung's Royal half -brothers , Souvanarath ( 1947-1948) and SouphanaPhouma (1951-1954)
Mean while , in 1949, under the guidence of his Vietnamese mentor Ho Chi MInh , Souphana Voung set upthe Lao Peoples Liberation Army , later to become known as the Pathet Lao. , in remote part of Sam Neua Province . By 1951 Pathet Lao forces were controlling one-third of Laos , and the Communist base area in the impregnable limestone caves of Sam Neua and Phongsali was already secured . Souphanavoung had chosen his Path , and with one exeption -when he entered a short -lived goverment of national union headed by his half-brother Souphanaphouma -he remained in opposition , directing the Pathet Lao from Sam Neua and Hanoi .
Soupahanvoung , did not enter Vientiene again untill 1974, by which time the Communist victory throughout Indochina was assured . For 18 months , untill the establishment of the LAO PDR in December 1975 , Souphanaouvoung served as head of the Natioanal Political Consultative Council . His return to the Lao capital was greeted with great enthusiasm - the Red Prince had retained his popularity through almost30 years of armed struggle.
Souphanaouvung was appointed President of the Lao PDR, a post he retained until the fourth party congress in 1986 , when he retired because of ill health . In 1983, on his way to a meting of the Non-Aligned Movement in Zimbabwe , he had suffered a stroke . His plane landed in the then Soviet Union , where he spent nearly a year in intensive care before returning to Laos. From this time on he made few public appearances. His last official appeareances was at the fifth party congress in March 1991 , though he continued to see people at his Vientiene home . He died in Vientiene on 9 January 1995. Until the end he reamined popular with ordinary Lao people. who refered to their RED PRINCE as " UNCLE PRESIDENT " .
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