Up to 160 Montagnards still hiding in Cambodian jungle
Montagnard refugees in Rattanakiri Province, Cambodia, June 6, 2004. Faces have been concealed toprotect their identities. Up to 160 ethnic minority Montagnard people fromVietnam are believed to be hiding in the dense forests on the border withCambodia, after fleeing alleged persecution.
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PHNOM PENH�Four more ethnic minority Montagnards fleeing alleged persecutionafter violent Easter Week protests in Vietnam have arrived in Cambodia overthe last week, bringing to 95 the number of Montagnards in U.N. custodythere, RFA�s Khmer service reports.
Separately, sources reported that up to 160 Montagnards remain in hiding inCambodia�s remote jungle, although Cambodian police say they believe only 50 Montagnards are hiding in the forest.
Cambodia views the ethnic minority tribespeople as economic refugees whomust be sent back. More than 160 were deported from northeastern Cambodia inApril.
The Montagnards, who protested in Vietnam April 10-11 to demand religiousfreedom, return of ancestral lands, and the establishment of an independentstate, suffered hundreds of injuries and at least 10 deaths during acrackdown by police and pro-government mobs, according to witnesses.
Since then, Cambodia has tightened its border security, circumventing itsaccession to a U.N. human rights convention stating that it will allowrefugees onto its territory.
RFA and The Cambodia Daily have obtained exclusive photos from the Easter Week protests that a refugee smuggled into Cambodia when he fled fromVietnam.
An official with the Cambodian Interior Ministry�s Central Office forSecurity who spoke with RFA on condition of anonymity confirmed Wednesdaythat the four new Montagnard refugees were brought to the U.N. HighCommissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) office in Phnom Penh last Friday, bringingthe total from 91 to 95.
Montagnard refugees inRattanakiri Province, Cambodia, June 6, 2004. Faces have been concealed toprotect their identities. Up to 160 ethnic minority Montagnard people fromVietnam are believed to be hiding in the dense forests on the border withCambodia, after fleeing alleged persecution.
All of those refugees reside in a small camp in the Tuol Kork district ofPhnom Penh, where they receive three meals daily and are cared for by aprivate doctor hired by the UNHCR.
The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRCS)met with Cambodian Red Cross officials Wednesday to seek access to helpMontagnard asylum-seekers hiding in the jungle of northeastern RattanakiriProvince.
"We advised Cambodian Red Cross officials to discuss the matter with thegovernment in order to find ways to assist these vulnerable people withhumanitarian aid," IFRCS delegation chief Anthony Spalton told RFA.
Several Montagnards who entered Cambodia in April and May after violentclashes with troops and police in central Vietnam are currently hiding in OYadao and Andong Meas districts of Rattanakiri Province as well as inMondulkiri province, some 325 kms northeast of Phnom Penh, sources say. Manyreportedly suffer from malaria.
"I wanted to stay in my country, but Vietnamese authorities mistreated meand my people, including women and children," one Montagnard man who arrived in Cambodia on April 30 with 33 others said in an interview. "[Since arriving in Cambodia] we have not had any decent food, and we have been eating leaves and tubers from the jungle. Many of us are sick and have diarrhea and headaches," he said.
The man said that after the 33 reached the Vietnamese-Cambodian border,Vietnamese guards fired on them and they dispersed. Only 11 remain in thegroup. Whether anyone was killed or injured was unknown.
A woman from another group of 24 Montagnards hiding in Rattanakiri Provincetold RFA she owned land in Vietnam but was forced to leave because ofVietnamese oppression and mistreatment.
"The Vietnamese would come looking for us and monitor our daily activitiesfor no reason at all. Out of fear, we decided to flee because if we stayedon there would be no peace for us," she said.
Pen Bunna, head of Cambodian human rights organization ADHOC, appealed tothe UNHCR for more aid to the Montagnards hiding in the jungle.
But the UNHCR and other rights groups have been barred from the area byCambodian police checkpoints in key areas of Rattanakiri Province.
"The UNHCR should negotiate with the Royal Government in order to supplyhumanitarian food aid� We regularly receive reports of new arrivals ofMontagnard refugees into Cambodia, but the UNHCR almost always tells us theycannot help unless the Montagnards go to the UNHCR office in Phnom Penh,"Pen Bunna said.
The UNHCR last month closed its office in Rattanakiri Province and currentlymaintains only one office in Cambodia, in Phnom Penh.
The top UNHCR official in Asia, Jean-Marie Fakhouri, accused Cambodia in Mayof failing in its international treaty obligations in its treatment of theVietnamese Montagnards.
"I am extremely concerned about the fate of people who attempt to come intothis country with the illusion that they will reach safety," Fakhouri told anews conference. "The asylum space in Cambodia for a seeker coming from aneighboring country is extremely restricted, to the point of being ratheruntenable."