VIETNAM RELIGIOUS FREEDOM UPDATE

UNCLAS HANOI 002245

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

STATE FOR EAP/MLS AND DRL/IRF

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PHUM KIRF PREL PGOV VM
SUBJECT: VIETNAM RELIGIOUS FREEDOM UPDATE

REF: A) DRL/IRF ADAMSON-JENSEN E-MAIL 8/30; B) HANOI 1520; C) HCMC
987


1. (SBU) This cable summarizes religious freedom developments in
Vietnam during the week ending September 1. This summary was
coordinated with ConGen Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC).

Hanoi Developments
--------------


2. (SBU) Religious prisoner Ma Van Bay's impending National Day
amnesty and release was reported by international press. Post has
not been able to confirm if he is actually out of prison yet.
(Note: If post is unable to confirm Bay's release in the next week,
the Ambassador -- who will be traveling to Bay's home province of Ha
Giang on September 12 -- will request confirmation of Bay's from
with provincial officials).


3. (SBU) On August 30, the Evangelical Church of Vietnam North
(ECVN) provided us with a list of 150 "mature" congregations out of
the list of 534 house churches that have completed their
applications in the North. These 150 were selected by the ECVN on
the basis of geographic distribution, giving priority to those with
longer outstanding applications and to those located in areas with
more progressive local officials, in the theory that these 150
churches should be easy for the CRA to register quickly. We
provided the list to the MFA and CRA on August 30.


4. (SBU) Despite repeated requests and the intervention of the MFA,
Thanh Hoa provincial authorities refused to allow Poloff to visit
the "Full Gospel" house church in Thieu Vien Commune and to
investigate reports that two Commune officials who participated in
the beating incident in June (Ref B) were reprimanded and fined.
The province claimed that "flooding" made it impossible to visit the
commune. We have reiterated our request to visit Thanh Hoa Province
with the target date of September 7.


5. (U) Preparations for Chris Seiple's Institute of Global
Engagement (IGE) "Religion and Rule of Law in Southeast Asia"
Conference in Hanoi (September 7-11) continued and are nearing
completion. The Ambassador will host a reception for the sixty-nine
IGE and GVN participants on September 8.

Ho Chi Minh City Developments
--------------


6. (SBU) HCMC CRA has completed training of district-level CRA
officials on how to process registrations from local house churches.
They have set out a road map to process qualified house churches.
In this process, they have run into a problem in that some house
churches do not have legal rights to the house that they are using
as a church. The house may be rented, for example, but without any
formal legal contract or approval from the owner that it could be
used as a church. Under national CRA guidelines, these properties
do not qualify for registration. HCMC authorities are trying to
find a way to sort out this issue to facilitate registration. Five
HCMC districts have begun to invite house churches to register.
Pastor No and Pastor Quang were also invited. Roadmap calls for all
registrations to be finished by early October, with perhaps some
registrations being announced by mid-September.


7. (SBU) Per Ref C, on August 30, the Southern Evangelical Church of
Vietnam broke ground for a new bible college in HCMC's District
Two.

ALOISI