DAKLAK: INVESTIGATING MINORITY ABUSE CHARGES

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 HO CHI MINH CITY 000740

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 7/13/16
TAGS: PHUM PREF PREL KIRF VM
SUBJECT: DAKLAK: INVESTIGATING MINORITY ABUSE CHARGES

HO CHI MIN 00000740 001.2 OF 003


CLASSIFIED BY: Seth Winnick, Consul General, HCMC, State.
REASON: 1.4 (d)


1. (SBU) On July 7, CG and Poloff visited the ethnic minority
hamlet of Buon Cuor Knia in the Central Highlands province of
Dak Lak. The purpose of the visit was to assess allegations
made by Human Rights Watch and the Montagnard Human Rights
Organization that at least two ethnic minority individuals, Y No
Buonkrong and Y Hlu Adrong, had been arrested and tortured
because of their links to "politically active refugees in the
United States." During the visit, we met with village-level
government officials, the ethnic Ede village elder, one of the
individuals named in the HRW report and the family of a second.

Village Officials
--------------


2. (U) Nguyen Van Trong, the local People's Committee Chairman,
grudgingly received us at his office some 5 kilometers from Buon
Cuor Knia. (The village is some 30 kilometers from Buon Ma
Thuot, the provincial capital.) The densely-populated region is
75 percent ethnic Vietnamese, 25 percent ethnic minority. Most
ethnic Vietnamese migrated from northern Vietnam beginning in

1981. In-imigration to the area has all but ended, as there is
no more arable land available. Trong claimed that most ethnic
Kinh purchased their land (presumably from ethnic minorities).
Average landholdings are modest, 1,000 to 1,500 square meters,
compared with other districts in Dak Lak province. Principal
crops are rice, coffee, sugar cane and pepper.


3. (U) Trong estimated that five to ten percent of the area's
11,000 inhabitants were religious. Many ethnic minorities were
Protestant. Although the local government was familiar with the
"spirit" of the legal framework on religion, senior levels of
government had not yet authorized a Protestant church in the
area. Protestant families must worship at home, Trong said.


4. (U) Security is a concern for village officials. Buon Cuor
Knia experienced "very bad" ethnic minority protests in February
2001 and in April 2004. The local government also was concerned
about continued illegal migration from Buon Cuor Knia to
Cambodia. Recently five persons from the village fled to
Cambodia. One was married, four single.

Buon Cuor Knia
--------------


5. (U) The hamlet of Buon Cuor Knia was further five kilometers
down a rugged dirt road from the seat of the village government.
Most of the houses were electrified, some were traditional
wooden structures, others were concrete. This was ConGen's
first successful visit to Buon Cuor Knia. ConGenOffs were
blocked from entering the village in 2003 as they sought to
follow up on the case of VISAS-93 beneficiary Hmri Buonkrong,
who reportedly was in police custody. Hmri is Y No's elder
sister.


6. (SBU) Our first meeting was with the ethnic Ede village
elder. (As in other ethnic minority villages that we visited,
the local elder is beholden and responsible to the government,
but in private often can be more than just a factotum.) The
elder confirmed that four individuals - including Y No
Buonkrong, one of the individuals we had come to see - had
"disappeared" since June 20. One of the other persons was Y
Phor Mlo, brother of Hpun Mlo, another VISAS-93 beneficiary.
HRW reported that Y Phor had avoided arrest and had fled to
Cambodia.


7. (SBU) The elder told us that demonstrations in 2001 and 2004
centered around a demand for ethnic minority independence and
the return of land now in the hands of ethnic Vietnamese. Y Hlu
Adrong, the other ethnic minority individual we intended to
meet, had participated in that protest. There was no church in
the hamlet as "bad people" had taken advantage of Protestantism
to encourage demonstrations. According to the elder, the
government had offered 48 poor ethnic minority villagers free
housing; Y Hlu was the only one who has not yet accepted a house.

Family Visits
--------------


8. (SBU) A plainclothes policeman acting as a village official
told us anyone that we wanted to meet would be brought to the
hamlet communal house, as the houses of Y No and Y Lhu were too
far away and the roads impassable. The village elder
subsequently agreed to lead us to the two houses. The policeman
was never seen again and we had no other interference as we
worked our way through the hamlet.

Y Hlu
--------------

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9. (C) As we entered Y Hlu's small parcel of property, workers -
and plainclothes police masking as workers - were indeed
building a two-room concrete house for Y Lhu's family. We were
escorted by the elder into the adjoining rough-hewn shack that
was Y Hlu's home. Y Hlu came in after us - it appears village
officials had summoned him to the hamlet's common house - and we
met him and his wife in private along with the village elder. Y
Hlu spoke Vietnamese. He had three children. He had no land
other than the small plot on which his house was located. He
recently received a loan by which he purchased a cow to try and
help support the family. He also worked as a daily-laborer.


10. (C) Initially, Y Hlu was terrified, breaking down into sobs
as we sat on his bed. He told us that he was afraid that he
would be rearrested after we had met with him (an unfortunately
common reaction in some ethnic minority villages we have
visited). Composing himself, Y Hlu told us that he and Y No
were held in police custody for a month on suspicions of being
supporters of the separatist movement. Y Hlu said that he was
caught attempting to distribute a cassette recording of the 2001
protests "for the benefit of others." Y Hlu refused to tell us
from whom he received the tape, other than it was a copy from
"outside." Y Hlu told us that he had been in "that business for
a long time." He indicated that he had only recently recruited
Y No.


11. (SBU) During his month-long detention, Y Hlu said he was
subjected to some form of tear gas. He was beaten in the ribs
and kicked in the legs on two separate occasions on the third
day of interrogation. His leg had been x-rayed. The bone was
not broken, but Y Hlu reported that it was painful.


12. (SBU) Y Hlu acknowledged that the government was building a
new home for him next door. However, he still had not decided
whether or not to accept it. Y Hlu said he was Protestant and a
member of the Southern Evangelical Church of Vietnam (SECV).

Family of Y No
--------------


13. (C) The father and extended relatives of Y No Buonkrong met
us in their large and relatively prosperous house on the other
side of the hamlet. Y No's mother was not available. She was
either at the communal center or summoned by police for a
"working session." The family told us that, in addition to Hmri
Buonkrong, two of Y No's uncles also were living in the United
States. A third uncle was in Ha Nam prison, in northern
Vietnam, having received a ten-year sentence for participation
in the Dega movement. (The family explained that Hmri Buonkrong
had been detained for a week in 2003, because she aided her
uncle to avoid capture as he hid from authorities "with his
cellphone.") The Buonkrong family also claimed affiliation with
the SECV. Family members in the U.S. occasionally send money
via wire transfer; the family must travel to the provincial
capital to get the funds. They do so without problem, and they
do not have to request official permission to leave the hamlet.


14. (C) Y No's family told us that Y No had been held by
district police for 20 days. He had been picked up from his
vocational school in Buon Ma Thuot, where he attended 12th
grade. According to his family, Y No had been detained twice
previously along with his sister Hmri. After his most recent
detention, he had no bruises on his body, but complained that
his head hurt. Y No said that he was beaten for three
consecutive days during custody because he did not discuss his
connections with "people" in the United States.


15. (SBU) After one week at home, Y No returned to Buon Ma Thuot
to continue his studies. He disappeared a week later, the
family told us.


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


16. (C) Y No's father and the rest of his family was remarkably
calm and matter-of-fact when discussing the disappearance of Y
No. Either he has been rearrested and they are remarkably
inured to hardship, or they know that Y No is on his way to
Cambodia.


17. (C) It appears very likely Y Hlu and Y No were physically
abused while in police custody. However, from the facts we
developed, the level of abuse and circumstances of arrest are at
odds with the information provided by HRW and MHRO. Y Lhu and
family members of Y No did not report that they were beaten
every day, nor did they claim they were fed poisoned food. Even
in the Central Highlands, the Vietnamese do not willy-nilly
arrest ethnic minorities, especially when the country is under
increased scrutiny in the run up to the APEC leaders' meeting

HO CHI MIN 00000740 003.2 OF 003


and impending PNTR hearings. By his own acknowledgment, Y Hlu
was a longtime ethnic minority activist; Y No a more recent
participant. Y Lhu was distributing a tape of a protest in 2001
that the GVN believes was a rally for an independent ethnic
minority state. We cannot tell whether or not Y Hlu and Y No's
activities crossed the line from legitimate political activity
to advocating for Vietnam's break-up. What is clear, however,
is that they were doing something more than just "enrolling in a
computer internet class" as MHRO alleged in its report.


18. (SBU) The various strands of problems in the Central
Highlands come together in Buon Cuor Knia and in the cases of Y
No and Y Hlu. Grievances over land, in-migration of ethnic
Vietnamese, politicization of religion, separatism, illegal
cross-border migration to Cambodia, ties to activists in the
United States, all are at play. They illustrate how difficult
it is to get at the exact circumstances of events and, more
broadly, how challenging it is to resolve ethnic minority and
religious freedom issues at the grassroots level in the Central
Highlands.
WINNICK