LAO HMONG AT PETCHABUN: RECENT MOVEMENTS INCLUDE

UNCLAS BANGKOK 002109 SENSITIVE SIPDIS DEPT FOR PRM/ANE, PRM/A, AND EAP/MLS GENEVA FOR RMA E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PREF PHUM TH LA SUBJECT: LAO HMONG AT PETCHABUN: RECENT MOVEMENTS INCLUDE SOME FORCED RETURNS TO LAOS REF: A. BANGKOK 2041 ¶B. BANGKOK 2042 ¶1. (SBU) In an unusual early morning repatriation on August 18, 45 Lao Hmong men, women and children resident in the Petchabun camp were returned to Laos. Royal Thai Armed Forces (RTARF) personnel involved in the movement told RefCoord that all departed voluntarily. The NGO Catholic Organization for Emergency Relief and Refugees (COERR),the only outside presence in the Petchabun camp, did not witness the repatriation due to the early hour of departure (4 a.m.) However, COERR reported that they did not subsequently hear allegations from remaining residents that force was used. Royal Thai Government (RTG) immigration officials said that the return was done as a "normal" deportation via the border control point at Nong Khai. Unusually, the group was moved directly from the camp to Laos, rather than stopping first at a military barracks 20 miles away used as a transit point for the previous 15 movements. In some cases, the Lao Hmong had spend several weeks at the barracks before being sent across the border. RTARF officials were unwilling to say if this new, more direct procedure will be followed in future returns as well. ¶2. (SBU) We learned that there was an earlier, forced return of Lao Hmong belonging to the "Chao Faa" sub-group (the so-called "jungle Hmong".) On August 9, local military commanders called police to arrest 7 male Chao Faa leaders who have been staying in a small area adjacent to the NGO-run food distribution warehouse. The group has refused to enter the camp proper since May in protest of MSF's decision to leave the camp. (Comment: RefCoord spoke to the group on two prior visits, and was given a letter requesting UNHCR intervention. All said they did not wish to return to Laos. End Comment.) Several of the Chao Faa group embarrassed the RTARF by shouting and waving banners during the recent visit by Lao Brigadier General Bouaxieng Champaphahn. (Refs.) COERR witnessed the movement of the men, several of whom sat down in protest and were lifted into a waiting truck by soldiers. COERR did not observe any physical abuse or tasering of the group, however, as alleged by U.S.-based Hmong advocacy organizations. The men were brought to an undisclosed location until their family members were located and sent to join them several days later. According to COERR, the women and children entered the truck without any RTARF handling. Local RTARF personnel involved in the movement told RefCoord that a total of 25 Chao Faa Hmong were then deported to Laos, entering on August 12. Lao officials told their Thai counterparts on April 18 that all had been sent to Borikhan,Laos. ¶3. (SBU) RTARF psychological operations designed to persuade the remaining 4,300 Lao Hmong in the Petchabun camp to return to Laos now feature a billboard at the entrance with PRM PDAS Sam Witten's and the DCM's photographs. (An earlier billboard counting down the days until the long-advertised September 30 closure of the camp has been taken down.) A Hmong-language "quotation" next to the photograph states that the U.S. will not resettle any more Hmong. In addition, at intervals during the day the RTARF is broadcasting (via loudspeaker) a similar Hmong language statement attributed to PDAS Witten. We will tell the RTARF that using the constructive visits by Witten and the DCM in this way is inappropriate and will ask that the posters be taken down, and the broadcasts stopped. JOHN