VISIT TO ETHNIC MINORITY MINORITY RETURNEES IN DAK LAK

UNCLAS HO CHI MINH CITY 000018

SIPDIS


SENSITIVE

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV PREF PREL PHUM KIRF SOCI EAID VM ETMIN HUMANR RELFREE
SUBJECT: VISIT TO ETHNIC MINORITY MINORITY RETURNEES IN DAK LAK
PROVINCE

REF: HCMC 962


1. (SBU) Summary: During a January 4-5 visit to the Central
Highlands province of Dak Lak, PolOff met with four ethnic Jarai
voluntary returnees from Cambodia and the family of a fifth.
Government officials reported -- and other returnees confirmed
-- that a sixth returnee was killed in a late December
altercation with his brother. UNHCR was notified of the death.
As requested, our meetings were private (returnee and family),
although we recruited a local ethnic Jarai government clerk to
act as an impromptu translator.


2. (SBU) None of the returnees or their families indicated that
they felt they had been abused or discriminated against since
returning to Vietnam. Unlike our September visit to Gia Lai
province where we met with 18 returnees, none of the Dak Lak
cohort raised grievances related to GVN policies on religion or
alleged expropriation of land. Nonetheless, our sense is that
the cohort's meager economic prospects -- they are poorly
educated -- and government pressure due to fears of ethnic
minority separatism drove the group to Cambodia. Septel will
report on discussions on religious freedom and family
reunification visas (VISAS-93) at the provincial and district
levels in Dak Lak. End Summary.


3. (SBU) During a January 4-5 visit to the Central Highlands
province of Dak Lak, ConGen PolOff traveled to Ea Sup district
near the Cambodian border to meet with ethnic minority
returnees. Post had requested private meetings with a cohort of
seven individuals from the district, all of whom had returned
voluntarily to the province in November 2005, after crossing to
Cambodia in July 2005. Ultimately we met with four returnees
and the parents and sister of a fifth. A sixth returnee was
killed in a family dispute a few weeks earlier and a seventh
lived in another village some 15 miles away. The meetings were
conducted in the homes of returnees without the presence of
government officials, although officials and media accompanied
us to the front gate of the homes. A local ethnic Jarai clerk
employed by the district was asked on the spot to act as our
interpreter.

Local Government: Committed to peaceful reintegration
-------------- --------------


4. (SBU) Ea Sup District officials underscored their commitment
to reintegrate the returnees peacefully and to fulfill Vietnam's
obligations under the Tripartite Agreement with UNHCR and the
Cambodian Government. The returnees were being treated fairly
and humanely, the People's Committee Chairman assured us. The
Province had provided returnees with different forms of
assistance (rice, seed, food, clothes, kerosene) under GVN and
provincial-level rural development programs. It was up to
officials at the village level to decide what specific
assistance was needed -- including providing housing and land
grants -- after conducting interviews with the returnees.
Because the families of some returnees were relatively well off,
some individuals did not receive any assistance. The officials
said that they recognized the spiritual needs of the ethnic
minority community in Ea Sup and were working to implement the
GVN's new legal framework on religion. That said, officials
claimed that, unlike other areas of Dak Lak, Ea Sup had a small
Protestant community that "freely worshiped in their homes."

No Claims of Mistreatment
--------------


5. (SBU) Following the official meeting, we met with four
returnees: R'Mah Deuk, Ksor Khinh, K'Pa Un, and R'Mah Wik. All
appeared healthy and in good spirits. In response to our
questions, they did not complain of any official harassment or
physical abuse either before their flight to Cambodia, in UNHCR
custody, or since their return to Vietnam in November. None of
the returnees was agitated; some smiled and laughed, others
appeared shy and embarrassed to be in the spotlight. All said
that we were the first foreign visitors to meet them. We also
met with the parents and sister of a fifth returnee, K'Pa Samay;
she had not yet returned from the family fields, where she was
working. Her parents said that she was treated well upon return
and did not face harassment or discrimination. (Note: UNHCR
Vietnam Mission Director Vu Anh Son told us that UNHCR had not
yet visited the Ea Sup group but a visit was planned for
mid-January. End Note.)

Economic Conditions: Poor But Not Hungry
--------------


6. (SBU) Government officials told us that the returnees and
their families live below the poverty line according to new GVN
income standards of 200,000 Dong (USD 27) per family member per
month. That said, the village -- and the returnees themselves
-- were relatively prosperous, particularly in comparison to
other ethnic minority villages that we have seen elsewhere in


the Central Highlands. Four returnee homes were electrified;
the fifth household was waiting for the local government to
connect the power line. Three of the five households had
motorbikes; two also had tractors. Three had televisions. A
number also owned some water buffalo and cattle. Government
officials also said that the families of two of the returnees
had received low-cost agricultural development loans of five and
eight million Dong (USD 300 and USD 500 respectively) to help
develop family land devoted to cashew-nut production.


7. (SBU) According to data provided by local government
officials and confirmed by the returnees and their families, the
five households had landholdings of between 2 hectares and 5
hectares of rice, corn, beans and cashew nuts. (Note: 1
hectare equals 2.47 acres. End Note.) Government officials
observed that the villagers low level of education -- three of
the five returnees were illiterate, the two others had a middle
school education -- sharply reduced their overall productivity
and income; better educated ethnic Vietnamese with similar
property are far wealthier.

Death of a Returnee
--------------


8. (SBU) Local Government officials reported that Siu Hon, a
26-year old, unmarried returnee was killed in a family
altercation at the end of December. According to the officials,
during a family gathering, Hon and his brother became drunk and
starting arguing. During the course of the argument, Hon was
stabbed by his brother and died. His brother is under police
custody at the local hospital, where he is being treated for
wounds suffered during the altercation. A second returnee
family that lived near Hon privately confirmed the government
report.

Reason for Flight
--------------


9. (SBU) Government Officials maintained that the returnees fled
to Cambodia because of their marginal socio-economic condition.
"Bad people" reportedly told them that were they to cross to
Cambodia they would be resettled in the United States and the
USG would ensure that they would "never have to work again."
Overall, 19 persons from Ea Sup district fled to Cambodia since

2004. Another 24 fled after unrest in the region in 2001.
Government officials asked us to emphasize to the returnees and
their families that the reality in the U.S. was quite different
from the rumors being spread in the ethnic minority communities
in the Central Highlands.


10. (SBU) The returnees were vague about why they crossed to
Cambodia, but it appears that the entire group made the two-day
crossing together. Initially, the four returnees that we
interviewed -- all young men between 16 and 23 -- told us that
they went "for fun" or "were drunk" or were "following a
friend." During our interview, K'Pa Un, told us that
unspecified friends told him that he could get resettled in the
United States if he crossed to Cambodia. Un and the other
returnees said that, once in Cambodia they became disillusioned,
missed their families and wanted to return home "as quickly as
possible. The parents of K'Pa Samay told us that they had no
idea where their daughter had gone; they were working in the
fields when their daughter set out for Cambodia. They
maintained that she did not explain why she left, and they did
not ask.


11. (SBU) Unlike our discussions with returnees from Gia Lai
province (reftel),none of the Ea Sup returnees said that they
crossed to Cambodia because of fear of government repression or
religious harassment. Of the five ethnic minority families that
we interviewed, three self-identified as Protestant, although
none could or would state to which denomination they belonged.
A fourth returnee was a lapsed Catholic, the fifth claimed to be
an animist. The Protestant families told us that the Government
instructed the local congregation not to gather to observe
Christmas, because there was neither a pastor nor church in the
area. As a consequence "extended families" gathered in
individual homes to celebrate.

Comment
--------------


12. (SBU) All the returnees were young, between 16 and 26.
Although their present economic situation is relatively stable,
their future is not bright. They are severely uneducated, with
little prospect for alternative employment other than working
the family homestead. However, family landholdings are too
small to subdivide economically and the returnees are competing
with their many other siblings for the family's land. Moreover,
the prospect of obtaining large tracts of additional land is
dwindling over time. Government fears over ethnic minority


separatism and the role of the "Dega Protestant Church" in that
movement also appears to be an unstated factor in encouraging
the cross-border movement. Ea Sup, which appears to have banned
Protestant Christmas gatherings altogether, is one of the
tougher districts in what hitherto has been the Central
Highland's toughest province. End Comment.
WINNICK


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