MFA'S YONG DISCUSSES GOL EFFORTS TO END HMONG

C O N F I D E N T I A L VIENTIANE 000228 SIPDIS SIPDIS DEPARTMENT FOR EAP/MLS (BESTIC) PACOM FOR POLAD BANGKOK FOR POL AND REFCOORD E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/11/2018 TAGS: PHUM PREF PGOV LA TH SUBJECT: MFA'S YONG DISCUSSES GOL EFFORTS TO END HMONG INSURGENCY REF: A. 08 VIENTIANE 157 ¶B. 07 VIENTIANE 0761 ¶C. 07 VIENTIANE 0639 ¶D. 07 VIENTIANE 0364 ¶E. 07 VIENTIANE 0110 Classified By: AMBASSADOR RAVIC R. HUSO. REASON: 1.5 B AND D. ¶1. (C) Summary: In an April 2 conversation with Poloff, MFA spokesman Yong Chanthalangsy, who oversees Hmong returnee issues within the GOL, discussed the remaining Hmong insurgent groups within Laos. He predicted that situation of the final two groups would be resolved within months, noting that "clemency" and ensuring the livelihood of former insurgents is the key. He said that a group of four families in Luang Prabang had recently surrendered. Yong acknowledged that efforts to bring about the surrender of Hmong in the Phu Bia area have been complicated by a "bad experience" -- an implicit recognition of an incident in which three members of this group were killed by government forces. He confirmed the Ambassador's suspicions that a man the Ambassador had met during a recent trip to a Hmong village arranged by Yong was not, as he portrayed himself, simply a former economic migrant who had been arrested in Thailand. Rather, the man was a former insurgent leader who had fled to Thailand when the rest of his group surrendered. Yong had arranged for his and his family's resettlement after the Thais arrested and deported him. Yong remained firm in his opposition to third-country resettlement from Thailand of the group of Hmong in detention in Nong Khai but assured Poloff that the group members would be safe after their return to Laos. End summary. Ending the Insurgency -------------- ¶2. (C) Yong maintained it was a matter of months until the situation of the final two groups of insurgents would be resolved. He was pleased that the insurgency in Bolikhamsai Province was completely over, partly because the Bolikhamsai Provincial Government had been very generous to those surrendering -- giving each five cubic meters of timber for example. Other provinces cannot afford to provide this level of support. A group that surrendered in Luang Prabang recently had been assisted by the provincial Social Welfare Department. The goal is for all those surrendering -- and presumably all those being returned from Thailand -- to live in dignity. Yong said that the GOL's Hmong returnee policy has three elements: eliminate safe havens including by building more roads in remote areas; bring development to these areas so people can be resettled; and use "clemency" in dealing with any former insurgents. Luang Prabang Group Surrender -------------- ¶3. (C) Yong mentioned that a group of four Hmong families, 22 people, had surrendered in Luang Prabang "two months ago." To arrange a safe surrender, some of the group members had contacted their parents in the United States. The parents had contacted a surrendered general in Laos. The surrendered general had contacted Yong, who set up the surrender. Yong was bemused by the "triangular communications" involved in sorting this out. He used this as an example of how closely the Hmong, even in the jungle in Laos, stay in contact with the larger Hmong community. The Phu Bia Group -------------- ¶4. (C) PolOff asked Yong why the group east of Phu Bia was unwilling to surrender after, for example, the two large surrenders in 2006 and the more recent Luang Prabang surrender. Yong was well aware of this group, led by Yang Le, and was aware that Yang Le has a brother in California who has been in contact with the Lao Embassy in Washington about the group. Yong said the problem with this group is how to set up a surrender without having it turn into an "ambush" of the government forces. Yong noted the group had a "bad experience" in November 2007 (when three of its members were killed by government forces -- an incident included in our Human Rights Report). The group, he said, was comparatively "ignorant," which made dealing with a possible surrender more difficult. Ambassador's Visit to Hmong Returnee -------------- ¶5. (C) Poloff and Yong discussed a March 14 visit to a Hmong village by the Ambassador and DCM that Yong had organized at the Ambassador's request. Yong was unavailable to participate and the Ambassador and DCM were accompanied by MFA Europe and Americas Director General Khouanta Phalivong. The village, within the Vientiane municipality about 30 km from the city center, has a sizable Hmong population. One of the villagers -- who had clearly been identified beforehand to speak to the Ambassador -- told the Ambassador that he had returned from Thailand with the group of 31 that had been sent back in May 2007. He and others said that they had previously lived in Xiang Khouang province and had moved to their new location to seek a better life. The Ambassador returned from the visit to the village unconvinced by a number of elements of the man's story; most importantly, he did not appear to have been an internal "economic migrant" as claimed. The Ambassador's instincts were correct. Yong told Poloff that, while it was true that that the man was part of the group of 31, he was not a typical economic migrant. The man, whom Yong had specifically selected to meet with the Ambassador, was the former leader of the group of more than 470 people who had surrendered at Phu Kut in Laos in late ¶2006. He had fled to Thailand after his group had surrendered but had been arrested by the Thais and deported. Yong said that he had figured out who the man was during the post-return screening process that returnees undergo in Paksan, Bolikhamsay province. He had arranged for the general's wife and children to leave Xiang Khouang province and resettle with him in the "spontaneous" settlement in Vientiane municipality. Yong noted that the general had been given five hectares of rice fields and was also planting an additional 20 hectares with rubber trees. ¶6. (C) Yong said he cannot publicize the fact that this former insurgent leader has been resettled -- or his whereabouts - because he is trying to "protect him from our own side." Yong said that while "those of us who sit in elevated positions" realize the need for a policy of clemency for former Hmong insurgent leaders, some members of the Lao security forces who have spent decades fighting against the insurgents see them as "enemies." Yong referred to a visit he had led for the foreign diplomatic community to Kilometer 52 in February 2007 (ref D) where the key point of the visit was not only to visit one family of five economic migrant returnees but also the fact that a different former insurgent general now lived in that K52 community running a guest house. (Comment: Clearly, the diplomatic visits to Hmong villages that Yong organizes have more than one purpose. After the visits, Yong arranges to have photographs of the foreign diplomats meeting with former insurgents circulate on the Internet to allow knowledgeable Hmong -- including those in the United States -- to see that these resettled or surrendered senior insurgent leaders are safe. End Comment.) The Nong Khai Group -------------- ¶7. (C) Yong continued to offer no flexibility on direct third country resettlement for the separate Hmong group in Thai custody in Nong Khai who had been identified by the UNHCR as &persons of concern.8 Yong maintained that unless the members of the group return first to Laos before resettlement, the pull factor or "magnet effect" drawing Hmong to Thailand will remain strong. Apparently referring obliquely to Blia Shoua Her -- the senior insurgent leader at the Nong Khai detention center -- Yong said his clan is now in the Pha Lak resettlement village. Yong claimed that if he comes back to Laos, he would be allowed to become the leader of Pha Lak, even though, according to Yong, there are three other generals already resettled there. &I guarantee this 100%. He is too important for us; we will protect him like a VIP," Yong asserted. HUSO HUSO