19 MONTAGNARD VILLAGES STILL REMAIN COMPLETELY SEALED OFF BY VIETNAMESE GOVERNMENT SECURITY FORCES: INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY MUST INVESTIGATE EASTER MASSACRE OF CHRISTIANS IN THESE VILLAGES

 

BACKGROUND: On Easter April 2004 thousands of Montagnard Degar people, including women and children, commenced peaceful prayer services in public concerning ongoing religious persecution, human rights abuses and lands rights in the Central Highlands. Vietnamese security forces responded with brutal force to break up the demonstrations and an unknown number of Montagnard Christians were killed and hundreds if not thousands were injured. The US State Department's Human Rights Report on Vietnam released February 2005 reported “Credible estimates put the number of protestors killed by police at least in double digits; some international organizations report that the figures may be much higher (see Section 2.b.).”

 

MAY 2005: Today in May 2005 the actual number of victims remains unclear as Vietnam continues to keep the Central Highlands primarily cut off from diplomats, journalists and monitors. The Montagnard Foundation has received information that hundreds of Montagnards were actually killed during Easter by Vietnamese security forces and that the following villages remain to this day under special scrutiny and total control by Vietnamese security forces. The following 19 villages are effectively sealed off and no one except authorities is permitted to enter or leave these villages.

1. Buon Dha Prong, Buonmathuot, Daklak Province
2. Buon Dha Ea Bong, Buonmathuot, Daklak Province
3. Buon Sut Hluot, district of Cu Mgar, Daklak Pronvince
4. Buon Sut Mgru, district of Cu Mgar, Daklak Pronvince
5. Buon Sut Mdrang, district of Cu Mgar, Daklak Pronvince
6. Buon Kna, district of Cu Mgar, Daklak Pronvince
7. Buon Poc, district of Cu Mgar, Daklak Pronvince
8. Buon Tong Ju, district of Krong Ana, Daklak Province
9. Buon Ea Kao, Buonmathuot, Daklak Province
10. Buon Ega, district of Krong Ana, Daklak Province
11. Buon Emap, district of Cu Mgar, Daklak Province
12. Buon Pu Niet, district of Krong Ana, Daklak Province
13. Buon Puk Prong, district of Krong Ana, Daklak Province
14. Buon Ea Tieu, district of Krong Ana, Daklak Province
15. Buon Ebung, district of Krong Ana, Daklak Province
16. Buon Jok, district of Cu Mgar, Daklak Province
17. Buon Trap, district of Cu Mgar, Daklak Province
18. Buon Ea Khit, district of Krong Ana, Daklak Province
19. Bun Jung, district of Krong Ana, Daklak Province

 

PRESIDENT OF THE MONTGNARD FOUNDATION STATES: “What reason can Vietnam have for sealing off these villages over one year later? Our information supplied by our brothers and sisters from inside Vietnam indicates these villages had many people killed and wounded by security forces during the Easter Massacre. We ask the international community to investigate this situation and please do something urgently to help these people. Our people report to us that these villages are completely sealed off by Vietnamese Cong An police and that any Montagnard who approaches these villages is threatened with death, shooting or arrest. The situation is terrible as so many of our people have already been arrested, tortured and beaten, even my own relatives.” Kok Ksor, President Montagnard Foundation

 

ADVISOR TO THE MONTAGNARD FOUNDATION STATES: “I have personally interviewed survivors of the 2004 Easter Massacre and recorded their testimony on video tape. One victim reported that the security forces brought down the entire front row of demonstrators having beaten them with clubs and stabbed them with machetes. He estimated that at least several hundred people died and that he also witnessed police throwing dozens of dead bodies into the river at Buonmathuot city. Another victim reported he saw 35-40 dead bodies on Phan Tru Trinh Street alone. Some of this testimony is available on the Montagnard Foundation website and I will make this and other testimony available to concerned governments and organizations”. Scott Johnson , Advisor Montagnard Foundation, Email: scottj@mail2me.com.au

 

THE MONTAGNARD FOUNDATION WILL SEND THIS INFORMATION TO APPROPRIATE INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS AND TO VARIOUS GOVERNMENTS; AND RESPECTFULLY CALLS ON THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY TO:

• Establish an international enquiry into what happened on Easter 2004 in the Central Highlands and to urge Vietnam to withdrawal its security forces from these villages.
   
• Urge Vietnam to release all 200 Montagnard prisoners currently serving prison terms and account for all the “disappeared” Montagnards who have vanished in Vietnam since repression escalated in 2001.
   
• Urge Vietnam to abide by the 2002 Concluding Observations of the United Nations Human Rights Committee regarding the “serious violations” confronting the Montagnard Degar people ((UN doc: CCPR/C/SR.2031) and allow human rights monitors to have unhindered access to the central highlands. 

More Montagnards will suffer and die unless urgent action is taken to protect these indigenous peoples.