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
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