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"SOUTH VIETNAM. REBUFFS AiD _____-_HAIPHONG IN THE.P PICTURE AGAIN. —_———_—____ — —¥isioning. _It allowed Miss Kyoko Koda _ the : rep- a The second voyage of the Phoenix storied well, The South _ Vietnamese government grenicd visas to the crew and no _ problems wete expected. The Phoenix sciled for Da Nong, ’ South Vietnam on November 14, 1947, with $4,030 in medi- : col supplies for civilian victims of the war. At Da Neng the : Phoenix wos met by a South Viemamese govemment gun - boat and held incommunicazo. The crew was prevented from ‘unloading the supplies or talking to reporters. Afier several : days in the Do Nang creo the crew, in « desperate attempt ’ fo get the medicines to suffering civilions, soiled to the mouth of the Mekong river hoping to talk to South Vietno— mese government ofiicials. Again they were rebuffed. The South Vietnamese govemment has given us no reason why they will not allow the Phoenix to deliver medical supplies to the suffering victims of the wor. George Lakey, Project ’ Director, wrote the following account: Twenty-one days had passed since we left Hong Kong and, as we vigiled at the mouth of the Me- kong River off South Vietnam’s coastal limits on December 5, we had to decide: should we sail for Cambodia? We were low on food and water. The ‘Phoenix had twice been damaged by South Viet- namese Navy ships colliding with us, and maneu-. vers apparently designed to promote more colli~ sions. The Mekong River route to Cambodia was denied us by the S. Vietnamese government, but we could sail south to the Gulf of Siam and then north to the Cambodian port of Sihanoukville. If wwe arnt te Maewhadinan wa anal saertlawn tha macein We FFOLIL bu Vampogia Wwe Toud CAKMLVIS the PYeSL bility of giving our cargo to the National Libera- tion Front, a project AQAG had planned earlier but not expected to accomplish until later. not re- alizing that while we were at sea news reporters alleged that an NLF camp was found in Cambcdian territory and the U.S. was beginning to give way again to its temptation to widen the war. When AQAG Field Representative Carl Zietlow talked to us on our arrival December 11 near Sihanouk- ville, therefore, he had bad news. The Cambo- dian government had reversed its earlier welcome to us in the light of the battle for national survival it was facing, and regretfully was unable to give permission to the Phoenix to land. It did not want to offer the U.S. another pretext for charging that : Cambodia in general and Sihanoukville in partic- we: ; ular are supply routes for the NLF. ’We nointed our yacht toward Cambodia pers sasGs we Redd SAP WE Le ee ok The government was not hostile; it gave us plenty_of time for repairs, refeuling, and pro- resentative on the team from the Japan Peace in Vietnam Committee, and George Lakey, Prdject Director, to help Carl with provisioning and then to fly out (Kyoko for medical reasons and George for interpretation work in the U.S.) WHITHER PHOENIX? When Hanoi told AQAG last fall that U.S. bomb- ing was too great to risk another Phoenix voyage to Haiphong, it suggested Cambodia as an alter- native route. Now that Cambodia is in a delicate situation, Hanoi has esreed that the Phoenix might come to ‘Haiphong during a bombing pause. (No press on this, please). While uncertainties re- Main, the Phoenix has set its sights for the bomb- ing pause at Tet, the Buddhist New Year, whict comes at the end of January. It will carry medi- cal cargo for the Red Cross Societies of NLF anc Democratic Republic of Vietnam, some of whict has been contributed by the Friends Service Coun- * ej] (Britain) and the Oxford Committee for Chil- ’ dren of Vietnam (Britain). On Christmas day Skipper Bob Eaton orderec the anchor up and the Phoenix with crew Bery!] Nelson, John Braxton, Chris Cowley and Mary- awe RA RAN earls bm oe G1llii MCINAU RIL, Hong Kong. Pee tee eee ae Leaal- t- star ted ihe long jour Hey DaCK ic On December 22 I visited with the leader of the pacifist Buddhists, Thich Tri Quang, in the Ar Quang Pagoda in Saigon. Why, I asked, did the South Vietnamese government, visas in Hong Kong, reverse itself and deny us entry? -American pressure caused the reversal, anc you can quote me on that, he replied. Were you discouraged, he inquired gently. -I admitted it. ~Don't be, he urged, going on to describe another way for us to send the medicines intended fox the Buddhists Remember, he said, that you. meee RS or ee ae Pee ee ne eT ae ~~ oc Sain Mal have done something which badly needs doing the Phoenix has dramatized the wickedness ol this war. We are grateful for that and for the friendship of American Quakers who struggle as we do, for peace. aftar avivind wu MLtC. Bi » ali, we