SURRENDER, FLIGHT OR DEATH -- THE HMONG "REMOTE

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 VIENTIANE 000519 SIPDIS SIPDIS DEPARTMENT FOR EAP/MLS, DRL, PRM E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/07/2016 TAGS: PGOV PINR PHUM PREF PREL LA SUBJECT: SURRENDER, FLIGHT OR DEATH -- THE HMONG "REMOTE PEOPLE" WEIGH THEIR OPTIONS REF: VIENTIANE 390 Classified By: Charge d'Affaires Kristen Bauer, reason 1.4 (b) and (d). ¶1. (C) Summary: More than 600 Hmong "remote people" have turned themselves in to Lao authorities since mid-2005, but the GoL has not permitted international access to any of their resettlement areas; their welfare and condition are unknown. Other Hmong have gone to Thailand, accounting in part for some of the steady stream of refugees entering Petchaboon. Finally, death by starvation and bullet continues to be the fate for other hold-outs. Attrition is eroding the numbers of the last Hmong "insurgents" in the forest, leaving those remaining with stark choices for saving their lives. End summary. Surrenders -------------- ¶2. (C) Since June 2005, when a group of 170 Hmong, mostly women and children, associated with insurgent commander Moua Toua Ther turned themselves in to Lao authorities in Xieng Khouang province, between 600 and 700 "remote people" have surrendered to the government. According to Hmong sources with close contacts with the insurgent commanders still in the forest, the bulk of these surrenders have taken place in Bolikhamsai's remote Viengthong district, Xieng Khouang's Muang Mok district, and the former Saisomboun Special Zone. While some of the surrenders have been of large groups (including more than 200 Hmong who surrendered in Bolikhamsai in October last year),most have been of 20 or 30 people at a time, often comprising only one or two families. The majority of those who have turned themselves in are women and children. ¶3. (C) These "remote people" have in some cases sought out Lao authorities on the understanding that they would be treated well and resettled under Lao government auspices. Although the GoL has in the past given resettlement assistance, including rice, farming tools, zinc roofing and plots of farmland, to former insurgents, little is known about what has become of those who came out over the past year. The group of 170 who surrendered in Xieng Khouang was initially resettled in Phoukout district. Lao authorities did not allow international access to them, and little was known of their fate. Most recent information from NGO and Hmong sources indicates that most of these 170 Hmong have moved on -- some to other parts of the country, and at least some for Thailand. ¶4. (C) More recently surrendered Hmong who were reportedly resettled in Bolikhamsai's Viengthong and Xieng Khouang's Muang Mok districts are even more out of touch. An expat NGO director who has worked in Muang Mok, for example, described the district as "the worst place in Laos," and said there was little information coming out about resettled Hmong there. He had heard, however, that many of those who resettled in Mok in recent years had moved on at the first opportunity, since Mok remained a dangerous place. There are no credible reports that the resettled Hmong have been mistreated, although we have heard anecdotally that some of the males have been arrested or detained by local authorities for their past associations with the insurgency. Taking flight to Thailand -------------- ¶5. (C) Aside from those who have chosen to surrender, some of the "remote people" have reportedly left Laos to seek refugee status in Thailand's Petchaboon province. According to some Hmong sources, recent arrivals in Petchaboon were escapees from the jungle, fleeing fighting in Bolikhamsai and Xieng Khouang provinces and in the Saisomboun area. One usually reliable Hmong source told us "most" of the more than 200 Hmong who arrived in Petchaboon last week were from the forest and had fled Lao military attacks. We also understand from another source, an expat with close connections to the Hmong community in Petchaboon, that some of the senior leaders of the insurgency are now considering fleeing to Thailand as well. Deaths and disease -------------- ¶6. (C) Finally, deaths from disease and military action are taking their toll on the remaining "remote people." Our Thai-based Hmong source informed us several days ago that Hmong commander Moua Toua Ther had reported by satellite VIENTIANE 00000519 002 OF 002 phone that 21 children in his group had died since May 1, all as a result of disease and starvation. These children, for the most part, were orphans whose parents had been killed or died of disease over the past two years and had no one to care for them. Our source claimed most of the children in Moua Toua Ther's group, including those with parents, were suffering from disease and malnutrition and would likely die in the coming months without outside assistance. ¶7. (C) We have other indications that the Lao military has also continued to launch attacks against some of the isolated bands of remote people, primarily those in Bolikhamsai province. Hmong sources have told us that with the advent of the rainy season military activity had tapered off, but Lao military units still had a tight hold on some of the "remote people" encampments and those within were cut off from food sources. Comment -------------- ¶8. (C) With the spate of surrenders and the sustained military activity of the past several months, we doubt there are more than a few hundred "remote people" remaining in the hills of northern Laos. Those who are still in the forest confront stark choices: surrender to Lao authorities, try to flee to Thailand, or hold out in the jungle with the likelihood of death by disease or by military action. End comment. BAUER