European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - October 01, 1989, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Lite goes on in Vietnam in the face of persistent problems. Vietnam Cambodia s Over but. Vietnamese soldiers leave Cambodia. By Steven Erlanger new York times or a countr " Aboul to enjoy what could be its first prolonged period of peace in Many decades Vietnam displays mile sense of Celebration the Long cambodian military adventure nearly 11 years requiring much sacrifice from the common Soldier and citizen has officially ended but the experience in Cambodia is ending in ambivalence with no ringing Victory. Vietnam s client regime in Cambodia is established but not quite secure. While at least 25,300 vietnamese soldiers have died and 55,000 have been seriously wounded the Khmer Rouge still threatens the cambodian government that Hanoi installed after it invaded on dec 25.1978, quickly overthrowing the Khmer Rouge regime of pol pot. Diplomatically too there is no evident payoff Lor Vietnam or having finally heeded Western and asian Calls for a withdrawal. The United states remains land elfish Isis log on a comprehensive diplomatic settlement in Cambodia which now seems far  before normalizing relations with Vietnam or it seems lifting an embargo on Aid and Trade with Hanoi rather than National Joy there is increased weariness As the vietnamese concentrate on the Many problems this tattered and still isolated nation continues to face overpopulation unemployment increasing crime intermittent hunger party corruption an aged leadership and even a communist world that is no longer familiar with cracks in Poland Hungary and the soviet Union seeming to Sunder the bloc. About Cambodia a noted vietnamese writer said there is individual Relief that our fighting is Over and collective rus Ignalio. We have borne a great sacrifice and we could Bear no More the cambodians he said will just have to do the Best they  for most vietnamese even the leadership question is scarcely Worth discussing. It s them and us said a Young Man in a cafe. It seems that they Don t often think of us and we Don t think of  a vietnamese official said withdrawing from Cambodia does t mean we give a sigh of relaxation. But it is very important for now to havea Chance to rebuild our own society in an easier atmosphere " the Central Issue for Vietnam today is the Economy despite improvements since recent moves away from Central management and slate subsidies the Economy still lags considerably behind the aspirations of the people whose numbers Are growing rapidly Many of these economic concerns lend to be expressed As a determination to try to give decent jobs or at least Job training to returning soldiers to Chi Mph City has already experienced Dilfia bullies caused by some demobilized soldiers no longer Content with the farm who come Here to find Little work and Wilh City born veterans who join criminal gangs spiritually an editor said All they gel is a Modak the government s policy is to give returning soldiers some priority in schools hospitals and Job placement and in chances to work abroad a program intended to ease the Job pressure Here and to help pay Vietnam s external debts. Officially veterans also have the right to return to their former employers. The problem is the reality and capacity of the  the editor said. That very factory does t have material Wilh which to work so what can they do the policy and the reality Are very  another senior journalist said i just think it will be a Burden for the whole society. The budget for social welfare is very limited. They think they have contributed to the country and they want society to be grateful. But in this economic situation there Are Many difficulties. To cannot afford what each one of them wants. Thai s our most difficult  there has also been some friction Between those who Lough in brutal surroundings Wilh rampant malaria and often inadequate food and shelter and those who remained at Homo. There Are people in the same Genor Alion who did not have to participate in Iho cambodian War who just stayed Here and did smuggling and had a Happy life another writer said. I worry Aboul the consequences " these feelings mix with another source of National shame the might of vietnamese in Flimsy boats to whatever country might possibly Lake them. People joke bitterly ii the Lamppost could walk it would go  near the River in to Chi Minh cily stands a statue of Tran Hung Dao. A revered figure who led the vietnamese against mongol invaders standing Wilh an outstretched hand. The joke is that he is pointing to Iho sea telling the vietnamese to go in boats. At the same Lime the press is full of articles Aboul increasing crime of housebreaking and acts of violence. Once again the capital is a City where one Musl guard against some of the world s detest pickpockets where responsible people speak with some despair of Iho growing chaos of life. In a sign of the growing concern. The vietnamese communist party s Central committee hold its seventh general Assembly late last month an apparently somber affair that ended Wilh a Stern speech by Nguyen Van Linh the party general Secretary appealing Lor More discipline legality and ideological purity. Despite the Domestic problems the vietnamese feel much Pride in having rid Cambodia of pol pol under whose Rule More than 1 million cambodians died. Many Here wonder whether there would even to a cambodian people today if Vietnam had not invaded. There is Pride also in the sacrifice Many vietnamese made and while the figures Lor the vietnamese dead and wounded in Cambodia Are hardly inconsiderable senior journalists seem convinced that they Are far too Low. Many vietnamese also take Pride in the reconstruction of the country particularly in the immediate aftermath of the invasion and the efforts by Hanoi s forces to feed cloths and cure the desperate cambodian population. Nguyen Duy a much admired poet who entered Cambodia with the vietnamese army As a correspondent remembers the color Black the Black of the pyjamas the Black of the skin of those who were dying or very  the Long queues of the orphans have haunted me Tor 10 years he said. The people had become animals. They ate anything they could find along the Road grass leaves frogs insects. They were like the Black ants of Africa that move through a Field and leave it devastated. And it was vietnamese soldiers who gave them their first Grain of  another writer said that what concerned him was Hal viol Nam stayed too Long in Cambodia. It remained a big sacrifice Lor the vietnamese nation he said. And that Burden was put on Nijor shoulders while we had too hard a me  it is True he added that Many vietnamese feel the cambodians Are not sufficiently  you treat them Well for 99 Days and ill for one Day and they forget the rest he said adding that the significance of the troop withdrawal is that our duly has been  tober1,1989 the stars and stripes Page 15