This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.

200650Z Jan 06

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FM AMCONSUL HO CHI MINH CITY
TO SECSTATE WASHDC 0281
INFO AMEMBASSY HANOI 
ASEAN MEMBER COLLECTIVE
AMCONSUL HO CHI MINH CITY

C O N F I D E N T I A L  HO CHI MINH CITY 000072 
 
SIPDIS 
 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL:  1/19/16 
TAGS: PGOV PREL PHUM SOCI ECON KIRF PREF CB VM
SUBJECT: PROBLEMS WITH RETURNEE TREATMENT IN KONTUM PROVINCE 
 
REF: HCMC 53 
 
CLASSIFIED BY: Robert Silberstein, Political Officer, ConGen 
HCMC, State Department. 
REASON: 1.4 (d) 
 
 
CLASSIFIED BY: Consul General Seth Winnick for reason: 1.4 (d) 
 
¶1. (C) Summary:  The visit of a joint Hanoi/HCMC team to Kontum 
Province's Sa Thay district revealed problems with treatment of 
at least some ethnic minority returnees from Cambodia.  Although 
we were promised free access to returnees and their families in 
their homes, in practice the plainclothes police presence was 
intense and intimidating to the villagers.  Three of the five 
returnees were "away." However, family members either stated or 
suggested that at least a few of the returnees had been 
mistreated, giving us the sense that absent returnees did not 
want to meet out of fear of repercussions.  Poverty, 
dissatisfaction and fear were worse in Sa Thay district than we 
have seen in any of our recent visits to Central Highlands. 
Reftel reports on results of the returnee-monitoring visit to 
Gia Lai province.  End Summary. 
 
Returnees in Kontum Province 
---------------------------- 
 
¶2. (SBU) On January 12, Hanoi and HCMC PolOffs traveled to Sa 
Thay district in Kontum province to assess the conditions for 
ethnic minority returnees.  A clearly nervous Sa Thay District 
People's Committee Chairman -- himself an ethnic minority Jarai 
-- assured us that they would receive private and unfettered 
access to six ethnic minority returnees from Cambodia.  These 
individuals had a "low education" and were "lured" to go.  The 
returnees had realized their mistake and "apologized to the 
community" upon return. 
 
¶3.  (SBU) The district Chairman maintained that Kontum had made 
great strides in improving the welfare of ethnic minority groups 
in the province.  In 2001 there was widespread ethnic minority 
unrest in Kontum, but protests were much more subdued in 2004. 
There was "no religion" in the district, he said.  The Chairman 
confirmed that 14 ethnic minority individuals were arrested in 
recent months for attempting to flee to Cambodia.  Two 
individuals who had fled to Cambodia following the 2001 protests 
and subsequently returned were the ringleaders.  He provided no 
other details and concluded that the 14 would be dealt with 
"under the law." 
 
Ia Grak Village Elder 
--------------------- 
 
¶4. (C) In the presence of provincial and district officials and 
what subsequently turned out to be undercover policemen, the 
ethnic Jarai village elder told us that the 78 Jarai households 
in the village had more than enough land -- at a minimum one 
hectare (2.47 acres) and government support to make a good 
living.  Those who had fled -- including his cousin and 
son-in-law (in 2001) -- were "lazy."  In addition to the Jarai, 
there was a sizeable ethnic Vietnamese and ethnic Thai migrant 
population from the north.  The government ensured that everyone 
had enough land.  At least one-quarter of the households in the 
village were Protestant.  All the returnees were well treated, 
the elder asserted.  Ethnic Vietnamese own the village general 
store and repair shop. 
 
Status of the Returnees 
----------------------- 
 
¶5. (C) Meeting with the wife of voluntary returnee Siu Son 
(MTN-538), the village elder and two other ethnic Jarai male 
"neighbors," joined the meeting.  Also in the room were two 
other women and their children.  Extremely nervous and anxious, 
Son's wife signaled that she could not talk to us so long as the 
elder the other men were present.  After some discussion, the 
three left, at which time she explained that the two men 
accompanying the elder were plainclothes policeman who were 
responsible for the arrests of the husbands of the other women 
present in the room as well as six other men in the village. 
These eight individuals had been arrested two months earlier for 
attempting to cross the border to Cambodia.  The women had not 
seen or heard of their husbands since the arrests. 
 
¶6. (C) Mrs. Son said that her husband had just left for Quang 
Ngai province "to visit his mother."  She and her husband have 
no land; their one-hectare was destroyed in 2004 during her 
husband's absence in Cambodia, first by drought and then by 
flood.  She also was forced to borrow two million dong (USD 120) 
from local Vietnamese to tide her over during her husband's 
absence.  They now owe six million dong.  Without land of their 
own, they now work the one-hectare owned by her mother as well 
as perform occasional day labor.  Siu Son graduated from the 
ninth grade.  They had received no assistance since his return 
from Cambodia in early 2005.  They, and many others in the 
village, were Protestant. 
 
 
¶7. (C) Looking from side to side to see if any police or 
"journalists" were near, she told us that her husband was beaten 
in police custody upon his return to the district.  He was hit 
in the ribs and stomach.  He remains in pain.  Also upon return, 
he and the other returnees were put on public display in a 
village gathering and forced to apologize to the community.  Six 
months ago he tried to flee again to Cambodia but was caught. 
He was not beaten, but was placed on six months administrative 
detention.  Crying, Mrs. Son was extremely concerned as to what 
might happen if information that her husband was beaten would 
leak; police had made them promise not to reveal the incident to 
anyone, she said. 
 
¶8. (C) With plainclothes police officials everywhere but inside 
the house, we met with Siu Su (MTN-433) in his parent's straw, 
mud and wood house.  The home had electricity and they own a 
television.  Su has a seventh-grade education.  He used to 
belong to the Southern Evangelical Church of Vietnam, but gave 
it up of his own accord.  He said that he went to Cambodia 
because he wanted to be resettled in another country.  His 
parents own just under two hectares of land.  He has received no 
aid from the state since his return.  He told us that he had not 
been visited by police since his return.  He was not threatened 
or hit, but remained fearful of future repercussions from his 
Cambodia crossing. 
 
¶9. (C) Ksor Ngay (MTN-435) greeted us in his decrepit tin-roofed 
home.  Initially he told us that he followed "bad people" to 
Cambodia to make money and possibly be resettled to a third 
country.  The family had one hectare of unirrigated fields; he 
and his wife also work as day laborers for "the Kinh."  The 
family had received assistance before he left for Cambodia, but 
none since his return. 
 
¶10. (C) Asked about abuse, Ngay initially told us that he was 
not hit or threatened, nor had he heard of others being abused. 
After we made clear that we were USG representatives, Ngay told 
us that he had been jailed for three days immediately after his 
return to the district and beaten in the cell by another ethnic 
Vietnamese prisoner.  He claimed that he was told that if he 
attempted to flee again and was caught, he would be killed.  He 
is under six months administrative detention, but has not 
received any other threats. 
 
Shadow Boxing 
-------------- 
 
¶11. (C) As we exited Ngay's house, provincial officials told us 
that we had seriously violated local custom by not allowing the 
village elder to sit in our meetings.  The elder had lost face. 
Profuse apologies were not enough; were we not to allow him 
access, the elder would terminate our visit.  Hoping to at least 
see the final two returnees, we agreed that the elder -- but no 
one else -- could join.  Through a combination of gestures, nods 
and veiled comments the elder subsequently indicated he was 
forced to make a scene, was dissatisfied with how the Jarai 
villagers were being treated and signaled to us whenever 
plainclothes police were near. 
 
More No Shows 
------------- 
 
¶12. (C) Neither Kapu Klanh (MTN-412), his wife or his four 
children were present when we called at their ramshackle, home, 
which does not have electricity.  His mother, who lives next 
door, let us in, but was very nervous as plainclothes police 
were loitering on the doorstep.  She claimed that authorities 
gave the family "money, rice, lots of things," but would not 
specify when or what exactly.  She said that "she did not know" 
if her son had been beaten or threatened by local authorities. 
She would not say any more. 
 
¶13. (C) Siu Phong (MTN-427) also was "out."  His mother and 
sister told us that Phong had just moved back to Ia Grak village 
from a neighboring town.  He helps the family farm their two 
hectares of cassava.  His mother said, "she did not know" how 
Phong was treated or if he had received aid since his return. 
His sister added that he had been sick since his return, but 
still works the fields.  She then quietly slipped into poloff's 
pocket a two-page document from the Kontum public prosecutor's 
office, detailing the case against the 14 men arrested for 
illegal border crossing. 
 
Comment 
------- 
 
¶14. (C) The visit to Kontum suggests a pattern of sustained 
threat and intimidation against the returnees.  More broadly, 
the situation in Sa Thay is the worst we have seen in our many 
visits to the Central Highlands.  The poverty was profound and 
the sense of fear palpable.  Unlike Dak Lak or Gia Lai 
provinces, where the vast majority of returnees were either 
extremely poorly educated or had ethnic separatist views, in Sa 
 
Thay, both the educated and uneducated sought to flee. 
Separatism did not appear to be a significant factor in Sa Thay. 
 The marginalization of the Jarai community, the deep poverty, 
lack of opportunity and government assistance, and the 
oppressive atmosphere understandably encouraged flight, 
especially as some had been resettled overseas in the past. 
WINNICK 
 
 
NOTE: DUAL CLASSBY/STATEMENT/REASON 
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