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

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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