US embassy cable - 04HOCHIMINHCITY752

UNCLAS HO CHI MINH CITY 000752 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR EAP/BCLTV, DRL/IRF 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PHUM, SCUL, PREL, SOCI, PGOV, KIRF, VM, RELFREE, HUMANR, ETMIN 
SUBJECT: PROTESTANT S0URCE DISCUSSES CENTRAL HIGHLANDS UNREST AND 
ARRESTS 
 
 
1. (SBU) In a May 28 meeting with the Consul General, a reliable 
Protestant source reported that the April 10-11 Easter weekend 
unrest in the Central Highlands had resulted in the deaths of 10 
ethnic minority persons in Gia Lai Province and another 190 in Dak 
Lak Province -- contrary to GVN claims of just two dead in both 
provinces.  In addition, this Protestant source said 68 of the 
alleged "masterminds and leaders" had been arrested in Gia Lai on 
May 11 and 13.  Because of these arrests, he had had to hurry back 
to Gia Lai from Ho Chi Minh City ahead of schedule.  This 
prevented his meeting with EAP A/S James Kelly, who was visiting 
HCMC at the time, for which he apologized profusely. 
 
2. (SBU) This Protestant source said he was present in one village 
in Gia Lai on April 10, when ethnic minority residents, who had 
gathered to attend church services, were met by suspicious police 
who thought a protest was underway.  According to the source, the 
crowds were a mixture of believers (Protestants), Catholics, and 
non-believers.  Despite his best efforts to persuade the 
authorities that these were merely peaceful worshippers on their 
way to Easter services, with no intention of participating in any 
demonstrations, the police maintained their presence and continued 
to monitor the crowd.  When violence eventually erupted, our 
contact claims to have witnessed personally the deaths of two 
individuals -- one male teenager who was shot, and a 40-year-old 
male who died en route to the hospital after being beaten by what 
appeared to be plainclothes police officers.  The Protestant 
source said he went to the hospital where some of the injured were 
treated and saw two large rooms filled with patients lying cheek- 
to-jowl, but he could not give a numerical estimate.  He returned 
to the hospital on April 12 to check on those still injured.  He 
counted about 30 people still there. 
 
3. (SBU) Asked for his views on the root causes of the unrest, the 
source mentioned all of the longstanding ethnic minority 
frustrations over land, jobs, education, and discrimination 
(majority Vietnamese Kinh vs. ethnic minority peoples).  He 
described at length the discrimination that ethnic minorities 
endured: arable land and good jobs went to the Vietnamese Kinh -- 
particularly those migrating down from the North -- not them; 
funds from UNICEF and other NGOs for hunger eradication programs, 
micro-loans, and building water wells focused on the poverty- 
stricken Vietnamese Kinh rather than ethnic minority peoples; and 
laws were enforced disproportionately against ethnic minority 
peoples (i.e. when ethnic minority peoples slashed and burned 
forested lanQor cultivation, they were arrested; when 
Vietnamese Kinh slashed and burned forested lands to create large 
coffee plantations, they got off scott-free). 
 
4.  (SBU) This Protestant source also confirmed that some persons 
in the U.S. had told ethnic minorities that the U.S. would come to 
their aid if they protested.  In fact, the U.S. "would rescue and 
resettle" them.  He himself had been called by someone named "Ksor 
Tan," (phonetic) who had tried to enlist his support (which he did 
not give).  According to the source, many ethnic minority 
individuals are still in contact with U.S.-based groups, and he 
worries that something could happen at any time.  While religion 
was a factoQhis Protestant source noted that the government 
response to the protests did not appear aimed at any particular 
religious group.  He believes that intercepted communications 
between the U.S. and the Central Highlands had tipped police off 
to the possibility of a demonstration.  He also asserted that many 
ethnic minority persons had fled to the forest or hidden literally 
underground to avoid arrest or punishment by police.  He could not 
give total numbers for the arrested or missing, saying that strict 
police surveillance made it difficult to corroborate these claims 
with family members of those believed to be in custody. 
 
5. (SBU) The source also discussed his reluctance to travel to the 
U.S. during early June as part of a GVN-organized delegation on 
religious freedom in Vietnam.  He did not want to damage his 
credibility or violate his Christian values by participating in a 
whitewash, but did not believe he would be allowed to refuse the 
invitation. 
 
6. (SBU) COMMENT:  After more than 15 meetings with ConGen 
officers over the course of 30 months, this was the most voluble 
and stressed-out that we have seen this reliable Protestant 
contact.  He was clearly worried about his impending trip to the 
U.S.  The GVN had taken possession of his recently-issued 
passport, and he had been given an airline ticket to Hanoi and 
told to present himself there for the visa interview. 
 
YAMAUCHI