The Paris Peace Agreements, formally titled as Comprehensive Cambodian Peace Agreements, were signed on October 23, 1991, and marked the official end of the Cambodian–Vietnamese War. The agreement led to the deployment of the first post-Cold War peace keeping mission (UNTAC) and the first ever occasion in which the UN took over as the government of a state. The agreement was signed by nineteen countries.
Signed on January 27, 1973, the Paris Peace Accords were intended to finally end the Vietnam War, which had cost the lives of thousands of American soldiers, not to mention the millions of Vietnamese civilians who were killed, injured, or displaced. Initially, the Accords were negotiated in secret by National Security Advisor Henry Kissinger and Le Duc Tho, the lead North Vietnamese negotiator. These secret negotiations took place over the course of five years in Paris, from 1968 to 1973, but it was only in the early 70’s that any real progress was made.
The secrecy of the negotiations, along with slow technology and the time differences between Washington, D.C., Paris, Hanoi, and Saigon, ensured that the negotiating process was time-consuming and tedious. In spite of these challenges, the two sides were, after many deadlocks and near agreements, able to come to a compromise in January 1973. For their efforts, Kissinger and Le Duc Tho were awarded the Noble Peace Prize in 1973, although Le Duc Tho refused to accept the award since he believed the U.S. and South Vietnamese were in violation of the Accords.
The settlement included a cease-fire throughout Vietnam. In addition, the United States agreed to the withdrawal of all U.S. troops and advisors (totalling about 23,700) and the dismantling of all U.S. bases within 60 days. In return, the North Vietnamese agreed to release all U.S. and other prisoners of war.
Both sides agreed to the withdrawal of all foreign troops from Laos and Cambodia and the prohibition of bases in and troop movements through these countries. It was agreed that the DMZ at the 17th Parallel would remain a provisional dividing line, with eventual reunification of the country “through peaceful means.” An international control commission would be established made up of Canadians, Hungarians, Poles, and Indonesians, with 1,160 inspectors to supervise the agreement. According to the agreement, South Vietnamese President Nguyen Van Thieu would continue in office pending elections. Agreeing to “the South Vietnamese People’s right to self-determination,” the North Vietnamese said they would not initiate military movement across the DMZ and that there would be no use of force to reunify the country.
In the end, the years of time and effort put into the negotiations were for naught as the ceasefire collapsed in 1975. With Richard Nixon forced out of office because of Watergate and the vast majority of Americans strongly opposed to continued involvement, it was only a matter of time that South Vietnam would collapse. That came even faster than some had expected, as the South Vietnamese army withered in the face of an all-out North Vietnamese offensive in 1975, which culminated with the fall of the South Vietnamese capital of Saigon in April 1975.
Within a few months after the signature of the Paris Accord in 1973, Hanoi began to nibble around the edges of the agreement. Meanwhile, Congress was beginning to put limits on what could be done in Cambodia and stopped the bombing there and in Laos. Finally, a couple of years later, Congress virtually put a stop to aid to South Vietnam, a truly dishonorable and reckless act. So, over a period of time, the Saigon Government was being undermined. Toward the end, in 1975, when the South Vietnamese Army was defeated in a hurry, Congress had already, and unconscionably, virtually cut off military and economic aid to South Vietnam.
