VZCZCXRO6002
OO RUEHCHI
DE RUEHBK #0968/01 0871034
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 271034Z MAR 08
FM AMEMBASSY BANGKOK
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 2442
INFO RUEHVN/AMEMBASSY VIENTIANE 4716
RUEHCHI/AMCONSUL CHIANG MAI 4990
RUEHGV/USMISSION GENEVA 2003

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 BANGKOK 000968 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR PRM/ANE, PRM/ADM, EAP/MLS 
GENEVA FOR RMA 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREF PHUM TH LA
SUBJECT: LAO HMONG: THAI ARMY EXPLAINS POLICY, SIGNALS 
POSSIBLE SHIFT ON NONG KHAI GROUP 
 
REF: BANGKOK 685 AND PREVIOUS 
 
 ¶1.  (SBU) Summary. The Royal Thai Army revealed that it will 
seek Laotian Government agreement to a proposal to allow 
third country resettlement for the 153 Lao Hmong confined in 
an immigration jail in Nong Khai, Thailand. The proposal will 
be made by the Thai Prime Minster at a bilateral border 
meeting in Vientiane on March 30. The Thai position on the 
larger group of 7,900 in an army camp in Petchaboon province 
remains unchanged: the great majority will be returned, 
preferably voluntarily. An initial camp-level vetting by the 
RTG identified about eighty percent as economic migrants. The 
remainder - including many the RTG acknowledges face danger 
if returned to Laos - will be dealt with later. However, 
early informal signals indicate they might be permitted third 
country resettlement as well.  End Summary. 
 
Petchaboon: About 1,000 Resisting Lao Government... 
--------------------------------------------- --- 
 
¶2.  (SBU)  On March 25, DCM, Political Counselor and RefCoord 
met with the Royal Thai Army (RTA) Supreme Command to discuss 
policy towards some 7,900 Lao Hmong confined in an army-run 
camp in northern Petchaboon, and a smaller group of 153 
detained in the immigration jail in Nong Khai. The meeting, 
chaired by Deputy Chief of Joint Staff General Ratchakrit 
Kanchanawat and attended by a dozen representatives from 
various army offices involved in the Lao Hmong issue, was 
arranged in response to the Ambassador's March 13 letter to 
RTA Supreme Commander General Boonsang Naimpradit, 
underscoring our concern about this group. Lt. General Nipat 
Thonglek, head of the Thai delegation to the bilateral 
Thai-Lao General Border Committee (GBC, the mechanism in 
which the Lao Hmong issue has been handled), estimated that 
"no more than a thousand" Lao Hmong in Petchaboon have 
connections to resistance to the Lao government - past or 
present. General Nipat did not respond directly when asked if 
this group would be allowed to stay in Thailand or referred 
for third country resettlement, stating only that "they will 
be considered later." 
 
And the Rest Are Smuggling Victims 
---------------------------------- 
 
¶3. According to Nipat, the camp-level screening process, just 
completed several weeks ago, revealed that "about eighty 
percent had been deceived into paying alien smugglers" to 
bring them to Thailand in hope of resettlement to the U.S. 
The files for all 1,400 families in Petchaboon (only family 
heads were interviewed) will be forwarded to a second tier 
screening body, chaired by the Deputy National Security 
Advisor and including the RTA, MFA and Ministry of Interior, 
in Bangkok. The Supreme Command was unable to say when the 
second tier review would begin, however, or whether all cases 
would be reviewed - or just the 1,000 or so individuals 
deemed to have a legitimate fear of return to Laos due to 
their connection to the insurgency. 
 
"Voluntary" Repatriation to be the Model 
---------------------------------------- 
 
¶4. (SBU)    General Nipat described the February 28 
"voluntary" repatriation of 3 Lao Hmong families (consisting 
of 11 individuals) from Petchaboon as a "model" for future 
returns. RTA staffers insisted all 11 had been interviewed 
at the camp level prior to their departure. (Comment: the MFA 
told us separately that they had not gone through the 
screening as the group had "volunteered" to return early in 
the process. End Comment.)  Nipat did not anticipate any more 
such voluntary returns in the near future, however.  Nipat 
used an expletive to describe a report by Radio Free Asia 
alleging force and aggressive use of dogs during the 
repatriation. (Comment: we understand from usually reliable 
NGO and UNHCR sources that the report was in fact incorrect. 
End Comment.)  When the DCM welcomed FM Noppadon's comment 
during his recent visit to Washington that all future returns 
from Petchaboon would be voluntary only,  Gen. Nipat 
responded uncomfortably that "we want all people to return of 
their own free will", but complained that the anti-return 
groups in the Petchaboon camp "have better psych-ops that we 
do."  Gen. Ratchakrit expressed some concern that excluding 
the option for non-voluntary returns would lead to another 
situation like the one at Wat Tham Krabok in Central 
Thailand, where thousands of Lao-Hmong spent over a decade 
(before most were resettled by us.)  However, he also 
emphasized throughout that the military would only implement 
 
BANGKOK 00000968  002 OF 003 
 
 
the policy of the government, not make policy itself. 
 
¶5. (SBU)  Nipat described his favorable impressions of Ban Pa 
Lak settlement in Laos, where several groups of previous 
returnees have been housed.  The DCM raised the cases of the 
Hmong children and teens deported in 2005; some of the girls 
in the group, who subsequently made their way back to the 
their families in Petchaboon, reported that they had been 
imprisoned and abused in Laos after their deportation.  The 
five boys in the group had disappeared.  This case raised 
questioned about the way that some returnees might be treated 
by the GoL.  Nipat acknowledged that the RTG "cannot 
guarantee" how Laos will treat future repatriated Lao Hmong, 
but said that the Thai side was trying to monitor the 
situation through visits such as his.  Nipat revealed that 
the February 28 returnees phoned him after 20 days in 
Vientiane to complain they had not yet been brought to their 
home villages.  (Comment: we understand that the group were 
actually kept in the border town of Ban Paksan after their 
return. End comment.)  Nipat claimed he contacted his Lao 
army counterpart and the group were subsequently allowed to 
return home. 
 
Policy Shift on the Nong Khai Group 
----------------------------------- 
 
¶6.  (SBU)  During their initial briefing, the Thai side said 
that any Hmong who wanted to be resettled to third countries 
would have to first return to Laos, as stipulated by the Lao 
government.  When pressed, however, Gen. Ratchakrit 
acknowledged that it was difficult to imagine a scenario in 
which the group with connections to the resistance would 
voluntarily return to Laos, even temporarily.  We highlighted 
particular concerns about the approximately 153 
UNHCR-recognized "persons of concern" who have spent over a 
year in immigration detention in Nong Khai. Gen. Nipat then 
agreed that the Thai side would press for third country 
resettlement for the entire group direct from Thailand; they 
will raise it at the March 30-31 bilateral meeting of the 
General Border Commission in Vientiane.  According to Nipat, 
the new Prime Minister, who will head the Thai delegation in 
his role as Defense Minister, is impatient with the impasse. 
The RTG proposal will involve the issuance of Lao travel 
documents to the group from the consulate general in nearby 
Khon Kaen before referring to third countries.  Nipat 
believes that a final decision on the RTG proposal can be 
made during the Vientiane meeting. The Thai side also agreed 
that, if they cannot get the Lao to agree to allow the group 
to leave Thailand, then they will work with us to try to 
implement improvements in the living conditions for the group 
(a proposed USG-funded temporary shelter on the premises of 
the Nong Khai IDC has been bogged down by the Thai 
bureaucracy for several months.) 
 
Local Army General:  Lao Hmong are Different than the Burmese 
--------------------------------------------- -------- 
 
¶7.  (SBU) On March 20, RefCoord met with the local army 
command in direct charge of the Petchaboon camp to press the 
points in the Ambassador advocacy letter.  Based in 
Pitsunalok, not far from Petchaboon, Third Army Commander 
Lt.General Sumreng Sivadumrong described the Lao Hmong as 
"illegal aliens who must be handled in accordance with Thai 
immigration law", but stated that the RTG did not want to 
forcibly deport them.  According to Sumreng, the combination 
of Lao government- constructed villages and future Thai 
private investment in factories in Laos will persuade most to 
return voluntarily.  Sumreng also described visited 
Lao-constructed return sites as "good", but that safe return 
was the responsibility of the Laotian government, not the 
RTG.  Gen. Sumreng provided few details of the internal RTG 
screening process, but rejected the idea that the  more open 
vetting mechanism for Burmese asylum seekers - the provincial 
admissions boards, set up with UNHCR assistance and 
participation - be instituted in Petchaboon: "It's a 
completely different issue - there's no fighting in Laos!" 
The Lao side has indicated it is able to receive about 200 
Lao Hmong a month. 
 
US Hmong Groups Involved in Drug Smuggling 
------------------------------------------ 
 
¶8.  However, a key aide to LTG Sumeng told RefCoord later 
that the 3rd Army Command recognized "unofficially about ten 
percent" of the 7,900 in the Petchaboon would be unable to 
return to Laos "because they helped you in Vietnam", and 
 
BANGKOK 00000968  003 OF 003 
 
 
inquired about resettlement prospects in the US. The aide 
claimed that many in the Petchaboon group were interested in 
returning to Laos but were intimidated by anti-return 
"gangsters", who in turn were influenced by US-based Lao 
Hmong groups. According to the army colonel, who is in charge 
of intelligence in the Third Army Command, those US-based 
groups were involved in drug trafficking and encouraged 
resettlement in the US to assist their illicit business. 
 
 
Comment 
------- 
 
¶9.  (SBU) The possible RTG shift in stance on the 153 Lao 
Hmong confined in the Nong Khai immigration jail is as 
unexpected as it is welcome.  Previously, we were told the 
Nong Khai issue would be handled only after the entire 
Petchaboon group was repatriated, a process that could take 
more than a year.  Although it is by no means a done deal - 
we believe the Thais will not allow third country 
resettlement for the group if the Laotian government objects 
- we should be ready to act quickly to process the 17 
cases/76 people referred to the US resettlement program by 
UNHCR at the end of 2006.  (The remainder have been referred 
to Australia, Canada, and the Netherlands.) We have also 
asked UNHCR to review the other cases to see if there are any 
with US-resident relatives who would benefit from the Kyl 
Amendment changes, and to refer those to the US as well. To 
this end, final implementation instructions from USCIS on the 
new law are needed to provide to UNHCR. 
JOHN