ETHNIC MINORITY NATIONALISM, RELIGION AND MIGRATION:

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 HO CHI MINH CITY 001050

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PHUM SOCI PREL PGOV KIRF PREF VM
SUBJECT: ETHNIC MINORITY NATIONALISM, RELIGION AND MIGRATION:
ANALYSIS OF CONDITIONS IN THE CENTRAL HIGHLANDS

REF: EAP/MLS 9/12 EMAIL; B) HCMC 917; C) HCMC 72; D) HCMC 760; E) HCMC

HO CHI MIN 00001050 001.2 OF 002



1. (SBU) Ref A reported allegations about conditions in the
Central Highlands made by ethnic minority advocacy groups to
Department officials on September 11. The advocates asserted
that ethnic minority individuals are not fleeing for economic
reasons, but because of severe human rights and religious
persecution in the Highlands; that Mission officials cannot
ascertain the true conditions in the Central Highlands because
of GVN controls and intimidation; and that the GVN harasses and
seizes remittances from Visas-93 (family reunification)
beneficiaries. This message provides our analysis of factors at
play in the Central Highlands and refutes the assertions of
systematic persecution of ethnic minorities in general and
Visas-93 beneficiaries in particular.

Triangulating and Vetting Information
--------------

2. (SBU) ConGen and Embassy officers regularly visit the Central
Highlands. In addition to our visits, we are in frequent
contact with independent sources in the Catholic Church and
Protestant community operating in the area. Over the past year,
we have also conducted dozens of private discussions with ethnic
minority Visas-93 beneficiaries in HCMC, as well as private
meetings with ethnic minority returnees and their families and
other ethnic minority individuals in the Central Highlands. Our
sources frequently debunk allegations of mass arrests, lockdowns
of entire villages or severe harassment of Visas-93 (family
reunification) beneficiaries. However, we have been able to
document cases of serious abuse (Refs B and C),despite official
attempts to "prepare" villagers in advance of our visits.
Furthermore, official "escorts" have not deterred ethnic
minority individuals from speaking frankly with us. For
example, some ethnic minority returnees were very plain spoken
about their belief in ethnic separatism in front of provincial
government and security officials (Refs D and E).
No Generalized Harassment of Visas-93 Beneficiaries
-------------- --------------

3. (SBU) Our information -- including numerous private
interviews with Visas-93 beneficiaries in HCMC -- does not/not
support claims that the authorities in the Central Highlands
currently have a policy of retaliation against the families of
Visas-93 petitioners. The beneficiaries tell us that,
following initial police scrutiny after the flight of their
spouses, they have been able to go about their business without
harassment. Detentions or harassment of particular VISAS-93
beneficiaries appears to be in response to actions by those
beneficiaries, such as attempting to follow the spouse to
Cambodia or clandestine support for family members wanted by
police for questioning. With a handful of exceptions,
beneficiaries have not had remittances from family members in
the United States seized or withheld. They also have not been
asked to pay bribes to travel to HCMC or to obtain documents and
passports. Some have told us that local officials have helped
them fill out their various application forms to expedite the
migration process (these applicants were illiterate). Over 70
percent of our current Visas-93 caseload has been interviewed
and processed in HCMC, with over half having already left for
the United States. Additionally, there are indications that
some beneficiary families do not wish to leave the Central
Highlands.
Poverty a Factor in Migration
--------------

4. (SBU) Our interviews with returnees from Cambodia and our
private meetings with Visas-93 beneficiaries indicate that
economics is an important factor driving cross border migration
to Cambodia. Our Visas-93 beneficiary interviews also appear to
show that some ethnic minority individuals in Cambodia
exaggerated or distorted their circumstances in Vietnam to make
the best possible case for refugee status. For example, per Ref
F, one ethnic minority refugee seeker told interviewing
officials in Cambodia that his land was taken by the government.
His wife told us that they were given five acres. The
demographics of the border crossers also highlight economics as
a driver of migration: many migrants are young, male, single
and terribly uneducated; they have little or no land; and, their
economic future in Vietnam is marginal at best. Few of these
migrants were born when the Vietnam War ended. (Ironically, one
of the more successful ethnic minority individuals we have met
in the Central Highlands province of Gia Lai is a former soldier
in the Army of the Republic of Vietnam and the current deacon of
the Protestant church in his village.)
Dega: Why in the Central Highlands?
--------------

5. (SBU) Ethnic minorities in the Central Highlands have
suffered from land dislocation, poverty and discrimination for
at least five decades. This, however, is no different from
other ethnic minority groups and, for that matter, ethnic Kinh
(Vietnamese) peasants elsewhere in Vietnam. In fact, compared
to other ethnic minority groups elsewhere in HCMC's consular

HO CHI MIN 00001050 002.2 OF 002


district, the ethnic communities in the Central Highlands are
more prosperous and appear to receive more government
assistance. For example, many Visas-93 beneficiaries tell us
that their villages are connected to the power grid, have
potable water and see some government efforts to develop their
villages.

6. (SBU) The concept of ethnic minority identity -- Dega -- is
much more pronounced in the Central Highlands than in other
ethnic minority areas of the south. As reported Ref G, the
ethnic minority national movement in the Central Highlands --
FULRO -- did not end in 1975. FULRO continued an armed anti-GVN
ethnic minority insurgency in the Central Highlands until 1992.
Although the armed resistance that FULRO mounted never
threatened Vietnamese control of the Central Highlands, the
resistance complicated reconstruction and helped cement negative
attitudes of the new provincial leaders towards some ethnic
minorities. Moreover, despite the collapse of the FULRO
insurgency, the idea of ethnic minority, "Dega" nationalism
continues to resonate among some in the ethnic Ede, Jarai and
Mnong communities in the Central Highlands. Continued economic
and social grievances in the Central Highlands create fertile
ground for the Dega movement to attract sympathizers. Other
ethnic minority groups in the Central Highlands and elsewhere in
Vietnam do not have these nationalist aspirations.

Religion and Dega
--------------

7. (SBU) Protestantism appears to be the dominant religion among
the ethnic minority communities that have had the greatest
involvement in the Dega movement. GVN arrests and repression
there do not represent an animus against Protestantism per se,
but are principally a response to security concerns over
separatism. The emergence of the "Dega Protestant Church" in
the late 1990s led the GVN to classify all Protestants in the
Central Highlands as Dega sympathizers. As far as local
authorities are concerned, the "Dega Protestant Church" is
continuation of the FULRO movement by other means. The presence
of Dega nationalists in Protestant religious organizations in
the Central Highlands -- including the GVN-recognized Southern
Evangelical Church of Vietnam -- has complicated and slowed the
process of registration and recognition of churches and
congregations. However, over the past two years, Protestant
religious organizations operating in the Central Highlands that
do not have a nationalist/separatist overlay have been given far
more leeway to operate.

8. (SBU) It is unclear to what extent the current efforts of
Dega activists would be considered protected speech in the
United States. However, any whiff of separatism is intolerable
to the GVN.

9. (SBU) The Vietnamese intelligence services are thorough.
They attempt to monitor all communications to and from the
Central Highlands, especially with the United States (Ref H).
They are convinced -- and some of our sources independently
corroborate -- that groups in the United States are continuing
to fan ethnic minority separatism through the Dega Church and
other activities. These actors also reportedly encourage flight
to Cambodia. By doing so, these U.S.-based groups are putting
ethnic minority communities in the Central Highlands at risk.
Additionally, the resettlement of economic migrants to the
United States via Cambodia creates a pull factor that only
encourages other poor, ethnic minority individuals to "try their
luck," intensifying the knee-jerk GVN security effort to secure
its borders against illegal migration to Cambodia.
WINNICK