Vietnam daily unveils decade of rural unrest 
 

 By Adrian Edwards 

 HANOI, Sept 16 (Reuter) - Vietnam's official army newspaper reported with
 stark frankness on Tuesday a decade of unrest and moral decline in central
 areas of the country, and said inept officialdom and the market economy were to
 blame. 

 A lengthy editorial in the Quan Doi Nhan Dan daily offered a rare glimpse past
 a veil of secrecy which has shrouded scores of vaguely reported incidents
 since the late 1980s in an area considered the cradle of Vietnam's revolution. 

 It catalogued problems across a region extending from central Quang Binh
 province to Thanh Hoa in the north, and called for decisive action to bolster
 grassroots ideological controls and public confidence in a morally upright
 government. 

 ``Together with making clear to the people the mistakes and wrongdoings of
 party units, authorities, cadres and party members, we should quickly expose
 and make ineffective persons who have caused disorder and incited people.'' it
 said. 

 The newspaper dealt at length with issues ranging from corruption among
 officials and Communist Party members to the re-emergence of historical feuds
 between families and localities as well as growing social vice. 

 It used terms including ``growing discontent,'' ``complex situations'' and
 ``political instability,'' and said traditional moral standards had been allowed to
 fall. 

 ``During the reform process, when the negative side of the market economy
 has been penetrating all fields of life, all corners of rural and urban areas, then
 in the area of Military Zone Four many complicated incidents occurred,
 including some which were serious,'' it said. 

 It described a series of incidents, some of which it said were the work of
 ``hostile forces'' intent on ``peaceful evolution,'' and added that in many cases
 officials had failed to respond adequately to popular concerns. 

 Hanoi routinely uses the term ``hostile forces'' and ``peaceful evolution'' to
 refer to groups seeking to undermine its control. 

 The military newspaper's report follows recent widespread unrest over
 corruption in northern Thai Binh province, a coastal rice growing area to the
 southeast of the capital. 

 It also precedes a critical decision at the top levels of Hanoi's power hierarchy
 on the appointment this week of successors to President Le Duc Anh, an army
 general, and Prime Minister Vo Van Kiet, both of whom are stepping down. 

 The report spoke of the troubles as a lesson for Vietnam and indicated the
 need for officialdom which could be seen as morally upright and strong. 

 It said that while many of the incidents of the past 10 years had been resolved,
 the process of resolving others continued.