HOA HAO ATTEMPTED SELF-IMMOLATION FOLLOW-UP

UNCLAS HO CHI MINH CITY 000878 SIPDIS SENSITIVE DEPARTMENT FOR EAP/BCLTV, DRL, DRL/IRF, DS/IP/EAP, DS/IP/ITA, DS/CC E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PHUM SOCI PREL PGOV KIRF ASEC VM SUBJECT: HOA HAO ATTEMPTED SELF-IMMOLATION FOLLOW-UP REF: HCMC 872 ¶1. (SBU) Further to the attempted self-immolation in front of the Consulate earlier in the day, Hoa Hao dissidents Truong Van Duc and Le Quang Liem contacted ConGenOffs again within minutes of each other around 1500h to discuss the incident. Duc told us that his Hoa Hao "contacts" in the Mekong Delta informed him that they planned to carry out a self-immolation in front of the Consulate to protest GVN treatment of the Hoa Hao. Nine individuals had volunteered to self-immolate one-by-one. Both Duc and Liem asked if the "international community" had planned to do anything to help given the "intolerable pressure" on the Hoa Hao. We did not respond, other than to stress that the USG rejects self-immolation and all acts of violent extremism no matter the underlying grievances and urged all involved to avoid taking actions that might lead to loss of life. ¶2. (SBU) Following these discussions, DPO and RSO informed contacts in HCMC's External Relations Office and Ministry of Public Security that up to eight more Hoa Hao adherents might attempt self-immolations in HCMC. Interestingly, even as the Hoa Hao activists were confirming that the self-immolator was one of their own, a contact in the MPS attempted to downplay the Hoa Hao angle, telling RSO that the detained individual had no religious affiliation and was known to be mentally disturbed. WINNICK