TNAG-0890-FCO40-1100-Refugees-from-Vietnam-in-Hong-Kong-Vietnamese-boat-people-1979 — Page 60

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W

direct fighting across the border is probably not imminent.

While talks continue, the Vietnamese are showing no

sign of wavering in their determination to eliminate remaining

elimi

Pol Pot resistance forces from Kampuchea. Vietnamese forces

have been able to clear significant areas of major resistance

concentrations, relying on their superior mobility and fire

power to locate and drive major Kampuchean forces into isolated

redoubts and in some instances, across the Border into Thailand.

Kampuchean resistance forces appear to have tried to avoid

contact in order to conserve their strength until the rainy

season necessitates a slow-down in Vietnamese offensive actions.

resistance forces have apparently been able to mount

limited counterattacks against isolated Vietnamese units and

to deny the Vietnamese unimpeded use of roads and highways

especially during the hours of darkness.

With the beginning of the rainy season, the Vietnamese

now face the task of maintaining control over newly-won areas

while

while at the same time attempting to extend administrative

control beyond the main towns and cities where the Heng Samrin

regime now has a presence. In this latter regard, the Vietnamese

face a formidable challenge, given historical Khmer-Vietnamese

antagonisms and the acute shortage, of experienced Kampuchean

administrative cadre, many of whom were killed by the Pol Pot

regime.

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