PHNOM PENH�Cambodia�s King Norodom Sihanouk has called for Cambodian andU.N. protection for Vietnamese Montagnards caught in clashes in Vietnam�sCentral Highlands this week, RFA reports.
�I call on the Royal Government of Cambodia and the United Nations toprotect the Montagnards and not to expel, or let be expelled, from Cambodia,these unfortunates seeking shelter in our home,� King Sihanouk said in astatement.
As clashes erupted over the weekend in Vietnam�s Central Highlands,Cambodian police tightened security along the Cambodian-Vietnamese border toprevent a new deluge of Vietnamese Montagnard refugees.
King Sihanouk�s statement came in response to the tightened border security,which contravenes the Geneva Convention�to which Cambodia is a signatory.
The king�s comments drew support from the Cambodian Center for Human Rights.�I support [the king�s appeal] because we must abide by the convention onrefugees that Cambodia has ratified,� Cambodian Center for Human RightsDirector Kem Sokha said.
�We must respect it and in order to strictly adhere to it, we must work withthe United Nations in order to do something that the United Nations wantsand asks us to do, such as having refugee camps,� he said.
Son Tuon, president of the U.S.-based Khmer Kampuchea Krom Federation, alsourged the Cambodian government to permit fleeing Montagnards to seektemporary asylum in Cambodia.
Vietnam has meanwhile lifted a travel ban barring foreigners from theCentral Highlands, closed off and tightly patrolled since Saturday. Airportsin Daklak and Gia Lai provinces have also been reopened to overseas visitors.
On Wednesday, Vietnamese sources told RFA additional troops had been sent tothe region. A day later authorities said the situation had returned tonormal.
The Vietnamese Foreign Ministry meanwhile rejected charges that protestershad been beaten to death in Buon Ma Thuot and that some had been shot andthrown into a river.
�This is not the first time Human Rights Watch and the [U.S.-based]Montagnard Foundation have produced such ill-willed fabrications. Wetherefore categorically reject the wrongful information,� spokesman Le Dungsaid. �I would like to reiterate that all aspects of life in the CentralHighlands are normal.�
Human Rights Watch reported that, according to witnesses, many ethnicminority Montagnards were beaten to death in clashes on Sunday withVietnamese police, though casualty figures are unavailable. But Vietnam�sForeign Ministry spokesman, Le Dung, denied those allegations.
Since last weekend, dozens, if not hundreds, of Montagnards are missing,Human Rights Watch said.
Montagnards living near Buon Emap in Cu Mgar district, Dak Lak provincereported that all of the men in Emap village disappeared the night of April10. Whether they were arrested or went into hiding is unknown.
Thousands of people took to the streets on Saturday in Buon Ma Thuot forwhat was expected to be a peaceful Easter prayer�but the gathering turnedinto a major demonstration against religious repression and landconfiscation.
In February 2001, Hanoi crushed a major uprising in the highlands overreligious and property rights and has since then kept the area under tightcontrol�with diplomats and reporters required to obtain clearance beforevisiting. A deluge of refugees fled across the border into Cambodia, withnearly 1,000 accepted into the United States as refugees.
The Cambodian government views Montagnard asylum-seekers as illegalmigrants.
In its 2003 report on human rights around the world, the State Departmentcited �numerous credible reports that groups of Montagnards continued toflee to Cambodia to escape ethnic and religious repression in the CentralHighlands. Government officials continued to harass some highlandminorities, particularly the Hmong in the northwest provinces and severalethnic groups in the Central Highlands, for practicing their Protestantreligion without official approval.� #####