And Now ...

25 years after the Vietnam War

HO CHI MINH CITY, April 30, 2000 — Triumphant but tightly guarded ceremonies today marked 25 years since the fall of Saigon and the unification of Vietnam after decades of war.

The main event — speeches and a mass parade under a blazing sun at the old southern presidential palace, the scene in 1975 of the American-backed South's surrender — was for invited guests only. Anyone else interested, and not many appeared to be, had to make do with watching television.

Security was much tighter than five years ago, the 20th anniversary, when the parade took place outside the palace grounds.

Before dawn authorities threw a massive security cordon around the barricaded approaches to the venue. No official mention was made of the source of security fears. American sources commenting on a US security advisory to travelers in Vietnam concerning the celebrations, said there were fears of anti-communist Vietnamese returning to try and drum up support to spoil the ceremonies.

The old palace was decked with red party banners, and the same tank that smashed through the iron entrance gate on April 30, 1975, stood in the grounds with a fresh coat of olive-green paint.

General Vo Nguyen Giap, the aging architect of successive victories over the French and the Americans, headed the lineup of dignitaries seated under a huge portrait of Ho Chi Minh, but did not speak. Ho, the country's leading revolutionary, died before the war ended.

Flanking Giap on the podium were Communist Party of Vietnam General Secretary Le Kha Phieu, Vice President Nguyen Thi Binh, and Prime Minister Phan Van Khai.

In the broad avenue in front of the palace, where mass parades were held to the blare of martial music, popular hits and revolutionary songs, only invited guests mingled with plainclothes security men, waving small red flags.

The ceremony kicked off on schedule at 6:30 a.m. with a far-from-triumphant speech read by Vo Viet Thanh, chairman of the Ho Chi Minh people's Committee, who used the occasion to warn of a crackdown on drugs and crime.

Thanh first paid tribute to the millions who fought and lost their lives in the 30-year struggle for reunification, and said the corruption and social evils plaguing the city now should make people ashamed.

"Arbitrary and imperious behavior, wasteful spending, embezzlement, bribery and other social evils such as the increasingly widespread scource of drug addiction ... Those problems make each and every one of us feel restless and guilty at heart for those who laid down their lives," he said, warning of a "degradation of law enforcement and moral and spiritual values."

Listing the city's achievements since the communist takeover 25 years ago, he warned against complacency and urged a "party regeneration campaign." Addressing foreign investors including overseas Vietnamese, some two million of whom fled after the fall of Saigon, Thanh said the city welcomed "with open arms foreign investment, businessmen and multinational corporations."

Contingents of military, minorities, laborers, social groups, state companies and veterans staged a massive march-past interspersed with crude floats. The marchers included a group waving the blue and red flags of the Viet Cong — the southern guerilla fighters whose role in the decades-long war is now all but ignored by Hanoi — and another of some 50 medalled and aging Viet Cong spies, men and women, who had served as infiltrators into the southern government.

Among the groups of Buddhists in yellow robes and Catholic priests and nuns who took part, a 55-year-old nun said that each of the six convents in the city had been told to provide five sisters for the parade.

"I cried a lot and was very worried on this day 25 years ago," she told an AFP reporter. "But things are getting better now."

Despite Thanh's welcome to foreign firms, not one was represented in the parade. Outside the cordon, life went on with coffee shops and breakfast stalls opening on the sidewalks, and few paying attention to the televised extravaganza seen on some screens in the central market, which was crowded with holiday shoppers. "It's another work day for me," said a sidewalk vendor.

But later in the day the atmosphere changed. The avenue in front of the palace filled with thousands of ordinary people who rushed to see the arrival of 61 of 75 cyclists who started out from Hanoi 19 days ago on a marathon 1, 742-kilometer (1,089-mile) reunification race.

The boisterous crowd was in sharp contrast to the ceremonies of the early morning, as was the state-sponsored marriage at the foot of a statue of Ho Chi Minh in the city center, of 25 couples born in 1975.

In Thu Duc, north of the city, 412 prisoners were among 12,000 released nationwide in a "liberation day" amnesty. Officials told AFP that foreign passport holders were among those freed for good behavior, but could not give their numbers or other details.

Winni and Tammy,"This is a piece of news from 'Agence France-Presse'."