LAO PRESS CONFERENCE ON HMONG MASSACRE DIRECTLY

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 VIENTIANE 000492 SIPDIS SIPDIS DEPARTMENT FOR EAP/MLS, DRL E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/01/2016 TAGS: PINR PHUM PREL LA SUBJECT: LAO PRESS CONFERENCE ON HMONG MASSACRE DIRECTLY ATTACKS U.S. AMBASSADOR REF: A. VIENTIANE 413 ¶B. VIENTIANE 367 ¶C. VIENTIANE 360 Classified By: Ambassador Patricia M. Haslach, reason 1.4 (b) and (d). Summary -------------- ¶1. (C) In a hastily organized press conference this afternoon, MFA's Press Spokesman called allegations of a massacre of Hmong civilians April 6 (reftels) a fabrication, and directly accused the Ambassador of having "threatened a high-ranking government official" during the course of an (actually quite cordial) meeting with the Governor of Vientiane province on the subject. The press conference, from our read, was an undisguised attempt to embarrass the Ambassador in front of the diplomatic and press corps, and was based on a totally incorrect interpretation of events surrounding the massacre reports. We believe these GoL actions should not go unanswered. In view of these very serious charges against the Ambassador, we are offering suggested language for a public statement below. End summary. Meeting with MFA on massacre -------------- ¶2. (C) In what we can only regard as a major GoL miscalculation, MFA called in the Ambassador this afternoon to discuss the allegations of an April 6 massacre of Hmong civilians by Lao military (reftels). MFA Europe-Americas Department DG Southam reviewed the reports of the massacre, without mentioning the reporting from sources like Amnesty International, and implying that the story had come only from U.S. sources. Southam ignored our previous approaches to the GoL on the massacre (our April 21 call on MFA's Human Right Department, DAS John's April 26 meeting with the Foreign Minister, and a second follow-on meeting with the Human Rights Department April 26) and said the Ambassador had inappropriately called on the Governor of Vientiane province May 4 and had "threatened" the governor over the issue. ¶3. (C) Specifically, Southam claimed the Ambassador during that meeting had said the "U.S. military" was concerned about the massacre and "demanded" an investigation of the inciden4*@Q3FQu He upbraided the Ambassador for even asking anyone but MFA about the massacre. Needless to say, he also rejected out of hand all charges regarding the killings. ¶4. (C) The Ambassador pointed out to Southam that there had �A;been no such "threat" during the meeting with the Governor (we are not sure what got mangled in the translation but what the Ambassador said was that the U.S. military took serious all allegations of human rights abuses by our military and always launched an investigation and prosecuted those found guilty.) She assured Southam that no Lao official had been threatened, and recited our chronology of the massacre report to make it clear that our Embassy had acted totally appropriately, going first to MFA over the allegations, never publicly accusing the GoL on the incident and urging only that the government conduct a serious investigation of what were manifestly serious allegations. We assumed this would put the matter to rest, given that the gist of Southam's attack was based on a misunderstanding, or at worst a mistranslation. Press conference a personal attack -------------- ¶5. (C) As a result, we were blindsided by the Press Spokesman's attack against the Ambassador made during his late-afternoon press conference, called ostensibly to deny allegations of the massacre. In the presence of a large part of the diplomatic and press corps, Press Spokesman Yong launched into an undisguised accusation against the U.S. Embassy of having fabricated the massacre charges and, more importantly, of the U.S. Ambassador having behaved improperly. ¶6. (C) After claiming that only the U.S. Embassy had raised the allegations of the April 6 massacre (ignoring AI and other reporting on the event),Yong went on to say that Ambassador Haslach had brought up the charges of the massacre during the May 4 meeting with the Governor of Vientiane province and had "threatened a high-ranking government VIENTIANE 00000492 002 OF 002 official." Echoing Southam's private conversation earlier in the morning, he accused the Ambassador of "inappropriate behavior" and of violating "diplomatic courtesy and practice." Yong went on to say that DG Southam had called in the Ambassador today to "seek clarification" of her comments and to "reject" the "U.S. Embassy charges" of the massacre. He concluded by advising diplomatic missions to "act correctly" and "handle carefully" information from outside. ¶7. (C) Embassy Political Officer, who attended the press conference, spoke out after Yong's comments to deny that threats were made against the Governor of Vientiane and to stress that the U.S. Embassy had acted totally appropriately in raising the massacre issue, bringing it to MFA and asking only that the GoL investigate the charges. The Political Officer also pointed out that the meeting with the Governor was a courtesy call, and the Ambassador had raised the massacre allegations in the course of that call, as the incident had taken place in Vientiane province. Privately, he launched into Yong over what we regarded as a very serious breach of protocol and an unbridled effort to publicly embarrass the U.S. Ambassador over an issue that should have been, and in fact already had been, dealt with privately in the meeting with Southam. Comment -------------- ¶8. (C) Embassy has already reported extensively on the April 6 massacre. Information on this incident has been widely circulated, comes from many disparate sources, and is highly credible. We have no doubt that this event took place as reported. Only this morning, the Australians told us that a Lao military source had confirmed that a killing of "bandits" had taken place at the time and place of the massacre. The Australians have been instructed to demarche the GoL on the massacre. The Lao press conference, which the Lao no doubt hoped would put this issue to bed, will only draw attention to the allegations. Coupled with more reports of recent murders G^-pQfT~ens),the spotlight the Lao are putting on themselves will only further embarrass them before the world community. ¶9. (C) We feel strongly that this attack on the Ambassador's behavior was a reckless action that was based on a deliberately falsified interpretation of our actions regarding the massacre reports. The accusations that Ambassador threatened a Lao official are particularly serious and utterly untrue: the Lao should have sought clarification from us, not laid the matter out before the press and diplomatic community. This was an unacceptable breach of diplomatic protocol that, in a moment, sets our relationship back. We therefore offer the following draft language for use in a public statement or Qs and As. We anticipate there will be considerable press interest in this issue. Draft guidance: On June 1, the Lao Foreign Ministry Press Spokesman made implications in a public press briefing that the U.S. Embassy had fabricated information regarding a massacre of civilians by Lao military forces that took place on April 6. The Spokesman went on to publicly accuse the U.S. Ambassador of having made "threats" against a provincial governor. These accusations are baseless. The U.S Government stresses that at no time did its Ambassador to Laos make threats against a government official. Moreover, all actions by the U.S. Embassy in Laos regarding the reported massacre were correct and designed to encourage the Lao government to launch a serious inquiry into the allegations. These massacre reports are serious and should be addressed by the Lao government. The U.S. Government deplores the Lao government's rash decision to make public accusations against the Ambassador. This was a serious and unjustified breach of diplomatic protocol. Personal attacks of this nature on diplomatic personnel are inappropriate and in violation of normal diplomatic practice. Moreover, the U.S. Government repeats its call on the Lao government to make a serious inquiry into the reported massacre of civilians on April 6. HASLACH