VZCZCXYZ0016
RR RUEHWEB

DE RUEHVN #0300/01 1000959
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
R 100959Z APR 07
FM AMEMBASSY VIENTIANE
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 1111
INFO RUEHBK/AMEMBASSY BANGKOK 7243

C O N F I D E N T I A L VIENTIANE 000300 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR EAP/MLS 
DEPT FOR DRL/IRF 
DEPT FOR EB/BTA 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/09/2017 
TAGS: KIRF PHUM SCUL SOCI EINV CASC PREL LA
SUBJECT: INTOLERANCE FOR CHRISTIANS PERSISTS IN LAOS 
 
REF: A. 07 VIENTIANE 167 
 
     ¶B. 07 VIENTIANE 138 
     ¶C. 07 VIENTIANE 105 
     ¶D. 07 VIENTIANE 86 
 
Classified By: Ambassador Patricia M. Haslach for reasons 1.4 (b) and ( 
d) 
 
¶1.  (SBU)   Summary:  Christians in Bolikhamsay Province's 
Nakun Village have faced pressure from local officials and 
have been "reeducated" numerous times as a result of their 
religious activities.  Christians in Xunya Village, Luang 
Namtha Province, have reportedly been prevented from 
practicing their faith, although the Lao Front for National 
Construction (LFNC) recently intervened to try to help. 
Twelve ethnic Khmu Christians jailed since late 2006 remain 
incarcerated.  The status of Mr. Khamsone, the possibly 
detained Christian employee of American company Natural 
Products International (NPI), remains unknown, and efforts to 
obtain information from provincial and central government 
officials have not been effective.  The Government of Laos 
(GoL) has indicated that there is no reason to return a 
church that was confiscated from Christians in Savannakhet 
Province in 2000.  Savannakhet officials argue that there is 
an insufficient number of Christians in the village to 
warrant having a church.  Overall, the past year has been a 
difficult period for Christians in many areas of Laos.  End 
Summary. 
 
Nakun Village Christians 
------------------------ 
¶2.  (U) In March, a French-based Lao exile group accused 
officials in Nakun Village, Bolikhamsay Province, of 
persecuting the local Christian community.  The group alleged 
that a low-level government committee made up of village 
officials and at least one district official had been 
established to eliminate Christianity from the area. 
According to a Radio Free Asia report, Lao Ministry of 
Foreign Affairs Spokesperson Mr. Yong Chanthalangsy had 
claimed that tensions in the village were due to the movement 
of new people into the village and that tensions developed 
because of differences in religious beliefs and methods of 
farming.  He noted that the government had formed a mediation 
committee to help the groups work out their differences. 
When questioned whether or not the Christians had been asked 
to renounce their beliefs, he was quoted as saying that this 
was merely incitement employed by people who want to make 
trouble and that Lao officials never repress people. 
 
¶3.  (SBU) Two Lao civil documents about the Nakun situation 
were recently circulated among concerned religious groups in 
the United States.  One of the documents, prepared by local 
officials, indicated that the villagers should move out of 
the village to an area where there is an existing church and 
indicated that they would not be granted permission to build 
a church in their own village.  The document also states that 
(as the Christians apparently acknowledged) the Christians in 
the village had used cassette tapes as a tool to spread 
religion.  Lao law forbids proselytizing.  In a second 
document, which was apparently written by the Christian 
community on what appears to be official government 
letterhead, the Christians indicated that Lao authorities at 
all levels had advised them that believing in God is not a 
good thing and that such beliefs are "the enemy's tactics 
which will destroy the nation."  While the Christian 
community apparently asked local officials to sign the 
document as acknowledgement, no official signatures appear on 
the document. 
 
¶4.  (C) On March 30 PolOff met with Pastor Saykham of the Lao 
Evangelical Church (LEC).  Pastor Saykham confirmed reports 
that Christians in Nakun Village had been asked to give up 
their beliefs and had been asked to leave the village. 
However, he informed PolOff that he did not consider the 
situation in Nakun Village to be as significant as religious 
problems in some other parts of Laos.  He argued that, 
because most of those responsible for repressing Christians 
in Nakun Village were village-level officials, the chances 
that the problems would be resolved by higher level 
intervention were good.  Nevertheless, he remarked that the 
government has not yet done anything substantive to resolve 
the issue. 
 
LEC Says Other Areas More Worrisome 
----------------------------------- 
¶5.  (C) Pastor Saykham remarked during the March 30 meeting 
that five ethnic Yao Christians who had been arrested in 
Luang Namtha Province in 2006 have now been out of jail for 
more than three months (Ref C).  Despite their release, 
Saykham said they have not been allowed to worship.  He also 
noted that a Christian elder in Luang Namtha Province's Xunya 
Village had recently died, and district officials would not 
allow Christians in the village to hold a Christian funeral 
service.  Representatives of the Lao Front for National 
Construction (LFNC) told the Ambassador during a late 
February meeting that they had visited Xunya Village and that 
religious issues there had been resolved (Ref A).  According 
to Saykham, however, the problems intensified in March, and 
district-level officials had taken steps to prevent 
Christians in Xunya from worshipping. 
 
¶6.  (C) A small group of Yao (also known as Mien) 
representatives of the United Christians Overseas Mission 
from the United States, accompanied by two LEC 
representatives, attempted to visit Xunya Village in early 
April.  However, local police and military reportedly blocked 
the group from visiting the village.  During an April 9 
meeting, Saykham told PolOff that the LFNC in Vientiane 
issued a document on April 2 supporting the right of 
Christians in Xunya Village to worship.  The document was 
reportedly sent to LFNC and police officials in Luang Namtha 
Province on April 6.  While he did not expect a total 
resolution of religious issues in the village, Saykham was 
hopeful that official intervention from the LFNC in Vientiane 
via provincial officials would serve to improve the 
situation. 
 
¶7.  (C) Saykham informed PolOff that Christians in Houaphan 
Province have increasingly had difficulties with both village 
and district-level officials.  He indicated that three 
Christian households in Punhong Village, Xiang Kho District, 
had been told by village and district officials to give up 
their faith or leave the village.  Returning to Bolikhamsay 
Province, Saykham noted that in Nam Deua Village, Pakading 
District, Christians had also been told by both village and 
district officials that they cannot believe in Christianity 
because it is an American religion.  He noted that they have 
been threatened with expulsion but that none have been 
expelled to date.  There are reportedly more than 100 
Christians in the village. 
 
Khmu Christians Jailed in Vientiane Province 
-------------------------------------------- 
¶8.  (C) Twelve ethnic Khmu Christians have been held in 
prison or police detention centers in Vientiane Province 
since November 2006 when they participated in a religious 
celebration that was attended by foreigners (Ref C).  The 
three pastors within the group of 12 have reportedly been 
held at Thong Harb Prison, while nine others have been held 
at a police detention facility.  During the April 9 meeting 
Saykham repeated that the LFNC and the Prime Minister's 
Office had approved their release several weeks ago. 
However, he said the Governor of Vientiane Province remains 
the obstacle to securing their release.  One of the nine held 
in the police detention center has been allowed to leave 
detention for a few days periodically to seek medical care, 
most recently on April 8.  The Ambassador requested that the 
LFNC provide an update on the group's status but has not 
received a substantive response. 
 
American Company Employee 
------------------------- 
¶9.  (C) The whereabouts and status of Mr. Khamsone, a 
Christian employee of American company Natural Products 
International (NPI), remain unknown since his arrest in 
Oudomsay Province in January (Refs B and D).  PolOffs met 
with the Chairman of NPI on April 5 to discuss Khamsone's 
status.  He informed us that he and Khamsone's wife had met 
with a Lao attorney in Vientiane to discuss the case.  After 
asking Khamsone's wife a few questions, the attorney told 
NPI's Chairman that the case was too sensitive and 
potentially dangerous and refused to accept the case.  Noting 
that he had heard of an office within the National Assembly 
that is set up to take citizen complaints against officials, 
the NPI President indicated that Khamsone's wife was 
considering sending a petition to that office.  (Note:  The 
Ambassador and Deputy Chief of Mission have raised this case 
with representatives of the LFNC as well as with the 
Director-General of the Europe-Americas Department of the 
Ministry of Foreign Affairs on several occasions.  The 
Resident Representative of the World Food Program, which 
purchases NPI products, has also raised the issue with the 
Governors of Luang Prabang and Oudomsay Provinces. End Note). 
 
 
Dong Nong Khun Church Remains a Government Office 
--------------------------------------------- ---- 
¶10.  (SBU) During his January visit to Laos, former U.S. 
Ambassador-at-Large for Religious Freedom Robert Seiple 
raised the issue of a church that was confiscated by local 
officials in Savannakhet Province in 2000 (Ref C).  Seiple 
was told by Deputy Prime Minister Somsavat Lengsavad that he 
would involve himself in making sure the situation was 
addressed.  The Embassy contacted the LFNC in February to 
determine if the church had been returned to the Christian 
congregation.  The LFNC responded by sending the Embassy a 
handwritten note from an official in Savannakhet Province 
indicating that the village has no need for a church because 
the number of Christians in the village is insufficient to 
warrant a church.  The note suggested that the Christians 
attend another church two kilometers away.  (Note: The church 
two kilometers away in Keng Kok Village was once confiscated 
for government use as well but was returned to the Christian 
community following one of Ambassador Seiple's previous 
visits.  End Note).  The note also stated that there are only 
20 Christians in Dong Nong Khun Village, a significant 
difference from the 130 reported to PolOff when visiting the 
area in January. 
 
Comment 
------- 
¶11.  (C) Despite some positive developments in regard to 
religious freedom beginning in 2002, the overall situation 
appears to have regressed in the past year.  Rather than 
using the Prime Minister's 2002 Decree 92 on Religious 
Freedom as a means to promote religious freedom, Lao 
officials have increasingly used the decree as a means to 
restrict religious practice on the village level and to 
forbid the construction of churches.  For the resolution of 
low-level religious issues, the LFNC has demonstrated 
occasional willingness to encourage local, district, and 
provincial officials to allow citizens the right to worship, 
although sometimes without success.  However, the government 
has treated Christians who are seen as too influential as 
"threats" to national security.  This may be what is behind 
Mr. Khamsone's apparent detention.  In such cases, both Prime 
Minister's Decree 92 on Religious Freedom and broader 
constitutional protections have had little effect. 
HASLACH