Vietnam sends Army into Central Highlands

Troops, Riot Police and Helicopters have been deployed in Vietnam's Central Highlands following a wave of ethnic unrest.

Vietnamese Officials say 20 people have been arrested in connection with a series of violent protests - the biggest for many years in the country.

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"Lines of protesters stretching as far as the eye could see marched along the roads into Pleiku." Pleiku businessman:

Reports say thousands of members of ethnic minorities have taken part in the demonstrations in Daklak and Gia Lai Provinces.

Their central grievance appears to be encroachment on their land by the Vietnamese majority population.

Hotels in the two provinces have been barred from taking tourists for a week and tour agencies have reportedly been told the ban could remain in force for as long as a month.

A foreign ministry spokeswoman said protesters in Gia Lai's capital, Pleiku, had destroyed public buildings and some members of the security forces had been injured.

Religion

The Central Highlands are home to many of the country's 54 ethnic minority Hill Tribes.

Reports say they are angry that the government has turned ancestral forests into the country's largest coffee-growing region, which has brought in lowland Vietnamese settlers.

The BBC correspondent in Hanoi says the protesters - some of whom are protestants - may also have been angered by government restrictions on their religious rights.

Violence

Residents said Pleiku and Daklak's capital, Buon Ma Thuot, appeared calm on Thursday. But Outlying Villages remained tense after two weeks of protests.

Reports said some of the demonstrations had turned violent, with protesters blocking a national highway, overturning vehicles and attacking a post office and telephone switchboard.

The country's largest wildlife reserve, the Yok Don National Park, a major tourist attraction, has been closed for days due to the unrest.

The demonstrations have brought together people from the Region's many Ethnic Minorities, including the three biggest - the Jarai, Ede and Bahnar - who between them number more than 600,000 people.

Vietnam Admits to More Unrest Among Minorities in Highlands

HANOI, Vietnam: Vietnam's authorities acknowledged today that a wave of unrest in the Central Highlands had been more extensive than they had previously admitted, leading to several injuries and 20arrests.

A Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, Phan Thuy Thanh, told foreign reporters today that protesters had destroyed public buildings, including schools, in Buon Ma Thuot, a provincial capital, on Tuesday, prompting the wave of arrests.

Previously, the authorities had acknowledged the occurrence of a single demonstration on Jan. 29 in Pleiku, a neighboring provincial capital, despite persistent reports of unrest among ethnic minorities throughout the Central Highlands.

Protesters had gathered outside the Buon Ma Thuot city hall after receiving "some bad information" about the events in Pleiku, she said. They "behaved provocatively and caused social instability," she added, saying they remained in custody this evening.

Security personnel were among the injured, she said.

Among reasons for the protests were "evil elements abusing religion" and "complaints about the land," she said, acknowledging the central grievance behind the protests cited by witnesses.

The spokeswoman would not specify which religion was being abused in the protests, nor would she identify the ethnic group of those arrested.

Residents of the region say members of outlawed Protestant churches, which have a large following among the ethnic minorities, have joined the protests in large numbers out of anger over the confiscation of their churches and the breakup of religious services.

Asked why soldiers rather than tourists were now roaming the region's leading tourist attraction, the Yak Don National Park, the spokeswoman said, "The local authorities are doing what is necessary to bring back order." And she added, "I think we can say at this moment that the situation is back to normal."

Later today, government television broadcast its first statement on the unrest, saying that small-scale protests had begun in Buon Ma Thuot as early as Feb. 3, with minority protesters blocking traffic and keeping their children home from school. "Extremist elements" had stirred up the demonstrators by sowing "disunity among ethnic groups," the statement said. The crowds then started vandalizing public buildings belonging to village, commune and district authorities, causing unspecified damage and disturbing social stability, it said.

Friday,   9 February  2001      REUTERS News Service

American Citizens Urged to Avoid Vietnam Highlands

HANOI (Reuters) - The U.S. embassy Friday urged U.S. citizens not to travel to Vietnam's Central Highlands, the scene of angry protests by ethnic minorities last week.

A statement said U.S. citizens should "defer travel" to Daklak and Gia Lai provinces.

"Vietnamese authorities have advised foreigners not to travel to these provinces," it said.

It added that authorities had advised of the possible unavailability of flights and said hotels in Pleiku, the capital of Gia Lai, had been reported ordered closed to foreigners until February 15.

"American citizens planning travel to Daklak and Gia Lai provinces are urged to postpone travel," it said, adding that protests had blocked traffic on roads leading to Buon Na Thuot, the capital of Daklak, and Pleiku.

Other embassies issued similar warnings.

The British embassy said it had advised the Foreign Office in London to update its travel advice at the Web Site www.fco.gov.uk.

For several days from late last week, discontent over land, religion and corruption in the central highlands erupted into protests of unprecedented size for communist-ruled Vietnam.

Thousands of members of the Gia Rai and Ede minorities demonstrated in Daklak and Gia Lai in what diplomats have called the worst unrest for years.

State media and local residents say protesters injured police in clashes, damaged state property, held some ethnic Vietnamese hostage and beat officials.

The Montagnard's Opinion

Reprint from the Montagnard Foundation

UPDATE ON THE SITUATION IN THE CENTRAL HIGHLANDS

On February 12, 2001, our contact person in the Central Highlands reported that the SRV had sent their armed forces with tanks and fighter-airplanes to assault the unarmed Indigenous Montagnard / Degar people in retaliation for their recent peaceful and non-violent demonstrations, in particular the demonstration which took place on February 02, 2001.  Each and every Montagnard village has been surrounded by tanks and ground troops while airplanes fly overhead.  Our people have been commanded to remain inside the villages; no one is allowed to leave; no one can summon help. Many of our men and women have been beaten by these pitiless soldiers and our children are hungry, crying for food.  And, since journalist are not allowed in the Central Highlands, the Vietnamese government is free to abuse our people - just as they have been doing since they first stole our land in 1975.  

On behalf of the Montagnard Foundation and the Montagnard people in the Central Highlands, I urge all the governments of the world and the Organization of the United Nations to help free the Montagnard people from being beaten and killed by the SRV troops and please keep our children from being starved to death. 

A member of the Associated Press in Hanoi told me on February 10, 2001, that the SRV had arrested 20 Montagnards, accusing them of being former FURO members.  This cannot be true since the last group of FULRO fighters came out of the Cambodian jungles in 1992.  There is only one FULRO member left, and none of these people can be him; the FULRO organization does not exist.  I have just received eight names out of 20 Montagnards who were arrested by authority officials on February 06, 2001.  Their names are as follows:  Ksor Kroih, Siu Un, Bom, Poi, Hnhao, Hle, Siu Tinh and Rahlan Gyai.  Our contact person said that the soldier beat these people up severely and also shocked them with electrical currents.  These people are only the Montagnard Foundation's supporters and Christian preachers. 

To the Montagnards point of view (and seemingly any other sane human), it is deplorable for the Vietnamese government to retaliate against the defenseless Montagnard people with armed forces, tanks and airplanes because of our peaceful and non-violent demonstration in which were essentially asking that we be allowed to live.  It is enough for our people to die because of these foreign Indochina Wars. It is enough that a foreign government gave our people and our land to another foreign people (The Vietnamese).  It is enough that foreign governments have allied themselves with our people, giving us their empty promises of freedom.  It is enough that the Vietnamese conquerors call us spies and traitors as a result of these foreign alliances, and that a policy of genocide became in the states (their states) best interest.  When will someone help us?  When will these promises of freedom come to fruition?  Who will keep the last threads of our culture from being unraveled and the last remnants of our race from being destroyed by the Vietnamese government?  Please help us; the crisis is imminent!

HIGHLANDS SITUATION UPDATE

A few weeks ago (early February 2001) the Vietnamese military enacted martial law in the Central Highlands and sent in tanks, troops and helicopters.  This was Vietnam's response to a peaceful protest by the indigenous Montagnard/Degar people against the years of genocide directed against their race.  In the last two weeks hundreds of Montagnard/Degar people have been attacked, arrested, beaten and tortured with electrical currents by Vietnamese authorities.

Due to phone restrictions and village districts being under house arrest - it is only now that the indigenous Montaganards/Degars inside Vietnam have been able to voice their concerns and explain the reasons for the recent unrest.  Just received from inside Vietnam's Central Highlands the five main points the protesters presented to the government of Vietnam on February 2, 2001 are hereby translated:

The Statements Given to Vietnamese Authorities on February 2, 2001

1. Give back our country (Haut Plateau Montagnard/Degar people).

2. Give back our right to govern and rule our own people and country under the leadership of our own leader Ksor Kok.

3. Release our two Christian brothers who were arrested, tortured and imprisoned for no reason on January 30, 2001.

4. We strongly do not want to be under the ruling of the Vietnamese government that continually persecutes our people.

5. The Vietnam government must respect the Declaration of Human Rights of the United Nations and stop the arbitrary and unjust arrest, torture and imprisonment.

THE PRESENT SITUATION IN THE HIGHLANDS

Vietnamese authorities are switching tactics to avoid international condemnation and is now paying and training Montagnards to hurt their own people.

Our contacts in the Central Highlands reported on February 24, 2001 that the Vietnamese government are now paying and training the Degar peoples to torture and killed Degar peoples themselves.  The following are the names of Degars who have been brainwashed, trained, bribed or forced by Vietnam authorities to commit acts of torture, repression and reprisals:

1. Y-Jam Eban, from the village of Buon Kdun, in Daklak province

2. Y-Khung Nie, from the village of Buon Kdun, in Daklak province

3. Y-Dhiam Eban, from the village of Buon Kdun, in Daklak province

4. Y-Krong Eban, from the village of Buon Kdun, in Daklak province

5. Y-Hoc Eban, from the village of Buon Kdun, in Daklak province

6. Y-Sok Buon Ya, from the village of Buon Kdun, in Daklak province

7. Y-Dang Hai, from the village of Buon Kdun, in Daklak province

8. Y-Suai Enuol, from the village of Buon Kdun, in Daklak province

9. Y-Drieo Eban, from the village of Buon Kdun, in Daklak province

10. Y-Huat Eban, from the village of Buon Kdun, in Daklak province

11. Y-Piend, from the village of Buon Kdun, in Daklak province

12. H'Ton, (woman), from the village of Buon Kdun, in Daklak province

13. H'Ngoc Nie, (woman), from the village of Buon Kdun, in Daklak province

14. H'Blit Buon Ya, (woman), from the village of Buon Kdun, in Daklak province

These are only some of the names we know of and are from just one village.  How many more in the thousands of other villages in the Central Highlands that we don't know of?  The Vietnamese government are applying policies of genocide and repression.  The declaration made by the General Assembly of the United Nations in its resolution 96 (I) dated 11 December 1946 that genocide is a crime under international law.  The Vietnamese government is practicing exactly the same as the definition of genocide stated in Article II of the Convention.  we the Degar people urge the Contracting Parties to prevent and punish the one who committed crime of genocide as it has stated in Article III of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.  (The Socialist Republic of Vietnam ratified the United Nations Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide on June 9, 1981).

DISAPPEARANCES AND ABDUCTION

On February 3, 2001, H'Go Eban, (woman), from Buon Kdun, was abducted at night by the authorities.  Her house had been destroyed and she had had been taken.  Her whereabouts are unknown.

TORTURE WITH ELECTRIC CURRENTS

Also on February 3, 2001, at the village of Buon Kdun, the authorities arrested, tortured with electrical currents and imprisoned the following peoples:  Y-Jan Eban, Y-Tlui Mlo, Y-Dhin Eban, Y-Ruih Eban, H'Nie Enuol (woman) and H'Buan Eban (woman).  But one among them, Y-Jan Eban was the worst because half of his body has been paralyzed because of the electrical shock and people believe that he will die at any time.

BEATINGS

After the peaceful and non violent demonstration on February 2, 2001, thousands of our villagers have been severely beaten by soldiers and police such as:  Ksor Bai, the village chief at Buon Cuor Knia, province of Daklak and five of his villagers Y-Hiam Buon Krong, Y-Yum Buon Krong, Y-Yue Knul, Y-Suen Eban and Y-Ko Eban.  Many people from other villages such as H'Don (woman) from the village of Buon Ale, province of Daklak, Y-Su Nie, from the village of Buon Mbhao, province of Daklak, Y-Nuen Kbuor, from the village of Buon Sup, province of Daklak and so on.  Again, these are only some of the names that we know of and are from just one district.  How many more in the other districts in the other provinces that we don't know of?

REPRESSION, REPRISALS, HOUSE ARRESTS AND STARVATION

Now Degar people can not wear our own traditional clothing or speak our own language on the street because they are scared of being beaten up by the Vietnamese communities.  For example: Y-Ni Nie was severely beaten up by the Vietnamese community and left him half dead on the street because of speaking our native language.

Degar peoples are now imprisoned in their own villages. The Vietnamese government has surrounded most of Degar villages in the provinces of Lam Dong, Daklak and Gia Lai with tanks and ground troops.  Troops and police here have dug trenches and fox-holes around Degar villages to keep our peoples inside.  The government does not sell rice and salt to Degar people.  

Our people cried out to us that our women and children will be the first to die of starvation and they need help.

On behalf of Degar peoples in the Central Highlands, we the Montagnard Foundation plead to the world communities, the United States, the European Union, the Organization of the United Nations and all the peace loving nations of the world to please help and protect our people from being completely destroyed by the Vietnamese government.