February 3, 2007

 

Update: Current Condition of 153 Hmong in Nong Khai

 

                                                      The condition of the 153 Hmong held at the Nong Khai Immigration

                                                      Detention Center has dramatically improved despite the frustration and

                                                      distrust of the Thai authorities among the men. With the assurance of the

                                                      International Community to protect them from being repatriated, they have

                                                      decided to come out of their stronghold cell and reunite with their wives and

                                                      children. The Hmong group is given three meals a day as before.  The women

                                                      and children have been allowed to go outside to a garden.

                                                     

                                                      The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) along with

                                                      other non-governmental agencies (NGOs) had been granted access to visit the

                                                      group and providing the necessary needs to them. Tong Her and Boua Lue

                                                      Xiong had been given immediate medical care and returned to Nong Khai

                                                      Hospital.  Boua Lue Xiong was initially diagnosed with cancer and hospitalized. He will remain in the hospital for further treatment. Tong Her on the other hand went in due to his facial wound where doctors performed major surgery to fix his face and to further prevent any infection.  This dedicated effort could not have been possible if not for the cooperative support of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Governor Souphot of Nong Khai and the medical team at Nong Khai Hospital.

 

                                                      Tong Her was among the group of the Hmong hill tribe hiding in the jungle

                                                      region north of Vang Vieng to escape the communist retribution for their

                                                      parents and grandparents’ role in the U.S. Secret War in Laos. On July 15,

                                                      2003, while hiding in small groups in the Vang Vieng jungle, Her

                                                      accompanied his brother, Moua Sher Her and Khoua Lee (Moua Sher Her’s

                                                      wife), to another village to visit Moua Sher’s in-laws, who were also in hiding

                                                      from the communist retribution. The foot journey approximated a two days

                                                      walking trip through the densely patrolled jungle. The three came across a

                                                      group of Lao army who was on patrol, and were ambushed. Tong Her’s

                                                      brother was killed at the scene. Tong      and Khoua Lee escaped the ambush

                                                      with serious injuries.

                                                     

                                                      On June 6, 2006, 26 members of Her’s village, mainly unarmed women and children, were murdered by the communist Lao army while foraging for food. Amnesty International and the U.S. Embassy strongly condemned the Lao PDR government, but like in the past, Lao PDR government denied the existence of the Hmong, and its military activities chasing and hunting down the “American collaborators” and their families “to the last root”.

 

“I photographed the massacre scene and brought back witness statements with video, but when I called the Spokesman for the Lao Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Yong Chanthalangsy, he dismissed me outright. He stated an investigation had been completed, there was no attack, and my information was fabricated. He refused to supply a written report, and did not deny the fact that no one from the Lao Government had visited the crime scene or interviewed any of the 500 jungle people who witnessed the killing.” - Roger Arnold (See article: Still a Secret War).

 

 

The Fact Finding Commission is dedicated to exposing the plight of the veterans of the U.S. Secret War who have hid in the mountains and jungles of Laos for the past thirty years to escape the retribution of the communist Lao government for their loyalty services to the United States during the U.S. Secret War in Southeast Asia.

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Courtesy of Roger Arnold

Tong Her (23) was shot in the face few years ago in the jungle of Laos.  Photographed by WPN Correspondent Roger Arnold in the remote jungle north of Vang Vieng in early July, 2006.

FFC