STAFFDEL LEE: GOL SHOWS OFF HMONG RESETTLEMENT SITE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 VIENTIANE 000335 SENSITIVE SIPDIS STATE FOR EA/MOL - EMERY STATE FOR PRM/A - BURKHARDT BANGKOK FOR SCHERER E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: LA PHUM PREF PREL SOCI TH SUBJECT: STAFFDEL LEE: GOL SHOWS OFF HMONG RESETTLEMENT SITE REF: A. 08 VIENTIANE 658 ¶B. VIENTIANE 332 ¶1. (SBU) Summary: On July 6, senior Ministry of Foreign Affairs officials accompanied House Foreign Affairs Committee professional staff member Jessica Lee and Ambassador to the Phalak village Hmong resettlement site. Phalak is used to settle Lao Hmong who return from detainment in Thailand but do not go back to their village of origin or a relative,s village. The visiting group observed the progress in infrastructure development since the Ambassador,s prior visit (Ref A). Phalak now has cell phone coverage, and villagers spoke of communicating with relatives in the United States or still detained in Thailand. Several villagers related their personal stories of how they came to be in Phalak, and requested additional development assistance. Comment: The Lao government (GOL) funded ) a rare occurrence in itself - the helicopter visit to Phalak village, in order to highlight the efforts and expense the GOL is putting into resettling returning Lao Hmong. This demonstrated the importance placed by the GOL on Ms. Lee,s visit and the GOL,s growing acknowledgement that transparency is the best response to international questions regarding Hmong resettlement. End Summary. ¶2. (SBU) House Foreign Affairs Committee professional staff member Jessica Lee and Ambassador were accompanied on a July 6 visit to Phalak by MFA Press Department Director General Khentong Nuanthasing and MFA Europe and Americas Acting Director GeneralThieng Boupha; the Thai defense attach to Laos also participated. Phalak village is located in mountainous northern Vientiane province, around 40 minutes helicopter ride or seven hours drive from Vientiane municipality. Phalak Living Conditions -------------- ¶3. (SBU) After flying through rainy skies, the GOL-funded and organized visit began with a report from the village,s Oversight Committee. The current Phalak population is 446, down from the 462 reported in Reftel A. Out of the 100 homes constructed, 78 are occupied, but arable land is insufficient for more families at this time. The decrease in population can be attributed to the GOL,s stated policy of allowing Phalak villagers to later move to villages where they have relatives, if they choose do so. The Oversight Committee representative provided a lengthy list of services and projects provided by the GOL, including food, clean water, temporary houses, health care, arable land preparation and allocation, electricity, all-weather road access, irrigation systems, cell phone coverage and a school. The U.S. delegation confirmed cell phone coverage by calling Vientiane city; villagers reported that they are able to both place and receive calls from the United States, but only to receive calls from Thailand. Voices of the Resettled -------------- 4.(SBU) Following the report, Ambassador requested that individuals in the audience share their stories. A U.S. Embassy ethnic Hmong employee acted as interpreter, as responses were given in the Hmong language. The two men who volunteered to speak and the one man selected by the Ambassador related similar experiences of either coming from the &jungle8 (i.e. being Hmong fighters against the GOL after 1975) or being directly linked to Hmong General Vang Pao, who led U.S.-supported Hmong forces during the Indochinese War. (Note: These are the two categories of Hmong awaiting repatriation from Thailand that are considered most at risk of GOL persecution. End note.) When asked, one speaker said no villagers had been arrested or injured in the two years his family had been in Phalak village. 5.(SBU) In answer to a question from the Thai defense attach, another man said his family of six had paid two million Lao Kip (around $240) as a fee for assistance from the group who came to their original Lao village at night and encouraged them to go to Thailand. This fee varied depending on the size and wealth of the family, he added. 6.(SBU) One man asked the Thai attache about current conditions at the Huay Nam Khao detainment camp in Thailand. The attach responded that everyone in Huay Nam Khao camp had entered Thailand illegally. The Thai and Lao governments are prepared to assist in resettling those who agree to return to Laos voluntarily. But even those who do not volunteer to return to Laos will be sent back in accordance with Thai law. VIENTIANE 00000335 002 OF 002 The attach added that the Thai and Lao prime ministers had agreed that Lao Hmong who wish to emigrate to a third country may do so, but must first return to Laos. (Comment: The attache,s full response was recounted in the report on this Phalak visit that appeared in the Lao-language press, though his comments were not included in the English-language press report. End comment.) 7.(SBU) Following the testimonies of the three men, Ms. Lee asked to hear from the handful of women at the meeting, noting that some women in Huay Nam Khao camp had expressed to her their fear that they would be abused on returning to Laos. One woman volunteered and became very emotional in describing her May 2007 entry to Thailand with thirty other people and the trauma of their subsequent arrest by Thai police. The Thai attache was troubled by her account and pressed for additional details, which she provided along with a request for more development assistance. DG Khentong closed the meeting with a statement to the villagers that crossing borders illegally can result in arrest, just as Lao authorities would arrest individuals who illegally enter Laos. (Comment: Post is very familiar with the case of the thirty-one Lao Hmong who entered Thailand in May 2007 and were quickly arrested by Thai authorities and returned to Laos, before ever reaching the Huay Nam Khao camp. End comment.) Touring Phalak Village -------------- 8.(SBU) GOL officials drove the delegation around Phalak village to demonstrate the progress of various infrastructure projects. The village irrigation system is nearly completed, while the health clinic is finished but not yet equipped. The village school, currently closed for the rainy/planting season, is completed and staffed by teachers who accepted a book donation from the GOL during the visit. The delegation visited one pre-selected, typical &temporary8 home constructed with thatch walls and a tin roof. Outside that home, a villager from a nearby house tearfully described her separation from her husband, who she said is afraid to return to Laos from the camp in Thailand. Lao officials encouraged the woman to tell her husband to return to Laos, and had her speak into a tape recorder so that her message could be sent to her husband. 9.(SBU) Comment: The GOL seized the opportunity of a visiting Congressional staff member to show off its efforts to support the resettlement of the small proportion of returning Lao Hmong that are not sent back to their original villages. In an unusual step, the visit to Phalak was entirely funded and organized by the GOL, using only GOL transportation. Despite poor weather conditions, MFA officials pressed ahead with flying to Phalak rather than drive to see resettled Hmong at a site near Vientiane city, which would have been more convenient but only allowed a meeting with one or two Hmong families. While services and infrastructure in Phalak village are very basic from an industrialized country perspective, they do significantly exceed the norm for upland villages around Laos. The visit also demonstrated an apparent GOL realization that greater transparency on Lao resettlement policy is the most effective response to international questions. HUSO