The University of Kansas—Lawrence, Kansas
Friday, December 6, 1968
79th Year, No. 54
South Viets ready in Paris for talk, war
PARIS (UPI)-South Vietnam's ambassador to Washington and its spokesman for expanded war talks flew in today for urgent meetings with U.S. negotiators on how to get the delayed conference going.
Saigon's Bui Diem, the ambassador to Washington, scheduled an urgent meeting later today with Cyrus R. Vance, deputy U.S. negotiator, on how to break the procedural logjam blocking the beginning of talks.
Diem and Dan Duc Khoi, spokesman for and special assistant to Vice President Nguyen Cao Ky of South Vietnam, arrived on separate flights with 16 assistants and secretaries to pave the way for the arrival of the full Saigon delegation Sunday.
Diplomats said Washington and Hanoi already had agreed on a meeting place in the French Foreign Ministry with two doors indicating the Communists may yield to allied demands for two-sided talks.
Khoi told newsmen that Pham Dang Lam, Saigon's observer to the preliminary U.S.-Hanoi talks, would be South Vietnam's chief negotiator. But Ky will be calling the shots, probably from a luxury villa on Boulevard Maillot off the Boulogne Woods.
In Saigon today, Ky told a nationwide television and radio hookup the South Vietnamese delegation in Paris would show both its "desire for peace and its readiness to fight to the end any aggression by colonialists and Communists alike."
Food for thought
By KIT GUNN
Kansan Staff Writer
After a fast meal of rice and tea in the Kansas Union cafeteria last night, 118 persons were told by the Rev. Dermot Doran that starvation may take a grievous toll of the Bifraan population.
Rev. Doran, a founder of the Bifran relief program, spoke last night at a dinner to raise funds for victims of the war.
Nigerian federal forces cannot win the war in Biafra, he said.
"Contrary to press reports that the war is nearly
A rice night
over, we have an African Vietnam in the making." Father Doran said. Nigerian federal troops will never conquer the people, he said.
But if relief efforts are not increased an estimated 10,000 people will continue to die of malnutrition each day in Biafra. "Instead of improving, I'm afraid the situation if getting worse," he said.
Mrs. Donna Shavlik, assistant dean of women, said 118 people paid $1 each for their meal. Seventy cents from each purchase will be used for the relief of Biafran children, she said.
Father Doran said 791 planeloads of supplies, mostly high-protein food for children, had been flown through the Nigerian blockade since shipments began in December. He said about 10 flights carrying a total of some 100 tons were being made each night.
When 500 tons of food a day were needed in Biafra, only 40 tons could be flown in, Rev. Philip A. Jarmack, assistant director of the National Conference of Catholic Charities, said. Now that 100 tons can be transported nearly 1000 tons a day are required, he said.
"The relief organizations realize that their operation is not a solution to the problem but they go ahead anyway." Father Jarmack said.
Both men criticized major world powers for not coming to the aid of Biafran civilians. Father Doran said he has been unsuccessful so far in borrowing aircraft from the United States.
"I don't want to start a row with your State Department but I would like a C130 transport," he said.
"A ceasefire is the only solution" to the problem of starvation Father Doran said, but argued that a ceasefire was unlikely.
"The people are convinced that they will be exterminated by the Nigerians." Father Jarmack explained. They are unwilling to seek peace, he said.
Father Jarmack criticized speculation on a quick Nigerian victory. "There is no such thing as a 'quick kill'" for the Nigerians, he said. "You can't occupy that territory, it's all bush."
Nor did either man expect a Biafran victory. "From a military point of view they don't stand a chance," Father Doran said. He said that while French military aid was probably insignificant there was some chance of Red Chinese intervention.
Father Doran said few relief workers were concerned with the political implications of Red Chinese intervention. "Missionaries in the field say, 'I hope to God they come tomorrow,'" he said.
Father Doran said Nigerian federal forces were aided substantially by the Soviet Union, East Germany, Hungary, Great Britain and Egypt. "The Egyptians are practising for their next conflict with Israel in the Sinai desert," he said.
A new problem in Biafra is the starvation of adults from lack of carbohydrates, Father Doran said. In the past, most starvation deaths have been children suffering from protein deficiencies, he explained.
Chowline for a lifeline
A dollar goes a long way Photo by Greg Sorben
Photo by Greg Sorber
Parents in doorway block NY teachers
NEW YORK (UPI)—The Board of Education ordered nine union teachers returned today to an East Harlem elementary school where angry parents vowed to keep them away again, as they have done for the past two days.
About 50 parents and supporters stood in the doorway of Public School 39 yesterday to bar entrance to the nine teachers who are accused of defying an order from their district's local governing board.
The parents stayed in the doorway and the nine teachers remained in a nearby restaurant until Charles Wilson, the district administrator, ordered the school closed for the day to avoid a confrontation.
The local governing board of the Harlem district has accused the nine teachers of holding classes and encouraging students to attend them on the day after Thanksgiving, a traditional holiday.
Since P.S. 39 and the other schools in the demonstration district of which it is a part remained open during the strikes, the local board did not feel it was necessary to abolish the traditional holiday.
The nine teachers claim they were obeying an order from the Board of Education which abolished the traditional holiday to make up for time lost during three citywide teachers' strikes this term.
Ever since the third and final teachers' strike ended Nov. 18, a growing number of protests have been held by students and parents disgruntled at the order abolishing some holidays and lengthening the school day by 45 minutes.
The protestors claim the order is designed not to fill gaps in students' learning caused by the strikes but to pay back striking teachers for time lost during the walkouts.
Albert Shanker, who led his United Federation of Teachers (UFT) in the strikes, said if the nine union teachers were not readmitted to the Harlem district by Monday, he and 500 to 1,000 UFT members would "personally escort" them to the classrooms.
Weather
Mostly fair Saturday. Continued rather cold. Southwest winds 10 to 15 miles per hour today. High today lower 40s. Low tonight 18 to 22.
UDK News Roundup By United Press International
Another chicken joke
LONDON—Queen Elizabeth II, her son and heir Prince Charles, and Princess Margaret were receiving a group of athletes at Buckingham Palace yesterday when a bearded marathon runner strolled over and sat down on the British throne, chomping a chicken leg.
Jim Alder, 28, apparently just got tired of standing at the stand-up buffet for the 350-member British Olympic team and took the nearest seat, which happened to be the throne of England.
Brando asks for Cuba
LOS ANGELES-Marlon Brando was enroute to Colombia to film a movie last night on a chartered plane, after being hustled off a Miami-bound National Airlines jet when he asked, "Is this the flight to Cuba?"
Once in the terminal, Brando identified himself and red-faced agents apologized and tried to persuade him to reboard. He took a later flight.
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