~ Le Viêt Nam, aujourd'hui. ~ The Vietnam News

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Vietnam's communist leaders prepare for key party congress HANOI - Vietnam's ruling communist leaders opened week-long talks Tuesday to prepare for a key party congress due to unleash a major leadership reshuffle, officials said. Some 170 members of the party's powerful central committee would "discuss the direction of Vietnam's development in the next few years and changes within the party leadership," a party official told AFP. Vietnam's number one, conservative party chief Le Kha Phieu, is among those believed to be targetted by the planned reshuffle, after coming under fire for his lacklustre performance. Diplomats and analysts believe he will be replaced at the upcoming five-yearly party congress which will largely rubber-stamp the decisions made by this week's plenum. The party's three powerful advisors -- elder statesmen Do Muoi, Le Duc Anh and Vo Van Kiet -- circulated a letter within the leadership last October accusing Phieu of "a lack of ability in party and state management." At its last meeting in January, the central committee also debated an upper-age limit for senior officials which was widely seen as an attempt to give the 69-year-old party chief an honourable way out. Phieu is due to give an "important speech" to the closed-door meeting, the party official said without giving any further details. The ninth party congress, initially due to be held at the end of March, "will be held at the start of next month" delayed by slow preparations at local level, he added. The central committee is also set to examine a report which will go before the congress at which a third of the committee's members are set to be replaced. The meeting opens a few weeks after violent demonstrations by thousands of members of the country's ethnic minorities in the two provinces of Gia Lai and Dac Lac in the central highlands. The two weeks of protests rocked Vietnam's main coffee-growing region earlier this year and finally threw into stark relief the failings of Phieu's three years in office. The former army chief had been appointed to the country's top job to provide a steadying hand after a similar wave of unrest swept the countryside in the midst of the Asian financial crisis in 1997. The party blames the rural violence on rampant corruption and abuses among party cadres which have severely dented the party's prestige, particularly among its traditional bedrock support, the peasantry. Agence France Presse - March 13, 2001.

Vietnam's communist party discusses leadership change HANOI - Vietnam's ruling Communist Party's powerful Central Committee began a weeklong meeting Tuesday to discuss top leadership changes and plans for a national party congress to set the country's course for the coming years. 5/8 The party congress, held every five years, was originally scheduled for late March, but is likely to be pushed back to at least April because of fierce infighting within the party over who should be the country's top leaders, party officials said. The selection of the party general secretary, Vietnam's most powerful post, is expected to dominate this week's Central Committee plenum. Current General-Secretary Le Kha Phieu is under great pressure to resign, officials say. But a final decision on the top leadership could be delayed until the last minute before the party congress, they said. At its meeting in January, the 170-member Central Committee proposed that no one over the age of 65 should stand for re-election except for key figures. The Committee also said that even top officials should not be above the age of 70. That proposal was seen as an effort to encourage the resignation of Phieu, who is widely perceived as a weak leader. Vietnam is currently headed by three men: Phieu, Prime Minister Phan Van Khai and President Tran Duc Luong. Phieu turns 70 in Dec., while Khai will hit 70 in two years. As Vietnam struggles toward economic and social reforms, its image remains that of a country held back by an elderly, conservative leadership. This week's plenum will also refine a draft political statement to be issued at the party congress. Many contributions to the draft have focused on "four dangers" facing the country, said Ha Dang, editor of the party's theoretical journal and a member of the drafting committee. Of the four dangers - being left behind economically, veering away from socialism, being defeated by anti-communist forces through "peaceful evolution," and corruption in the bureaucracy - the last is probably the most dangerous because it exacerbates the others, Dang said. The Associated Press - March 13, 2001.