Authorities in Ratanakkiri province are searching for possibly hundreds of Montagnard asylum seekers from Vietnam who may be in hiding in the jungles of the northeast following the latest crackdown by Hanoi on minority communities in Vietnam’s Central Highlands, officials said on Monday.
Ratanakkiri officials said they are looking for the fleeing Montagnards following a request last month from Vietnamese security and provincial authorities.
Reports of the latest influx follow more than 30 arrests in the Central Highlands and what US-based Human Rights Watch say is a fresh wave of oppression against Montagnard church leaders, land rights activists and villagers suspected of guiding refugees to Cambodia last year.
“We have already sent our police to the border, but [the Montagnards] are hiding in the forest,” said Ratanakkiri Deputy Governor Moung Poy.
A delegation of 12 Vietnamese military, police and provincial officials visited Ratanakkiri last month seeking assistance to help find Montagnards who fled to Cambodia, Moung Poy said.
“If we find them, they asked us to inform them and send them back to Vietnam,” Moung Poy said.
“They claim that a number are already inside Cambodia and are in hiding. Others are still hiding along the border inside Vietnam,” he said.
Cambodia police have not yet spotted the refugees—whose numbers are unknown—but authorities will do their best to detain and deported them, he said.
The refugees may have crossed the border in Andong Meas and Taveng districts of Ratanakkiri province. Authorities are also searching in Veun Sai district.
Human Rights Watch said on Friday that telephone lines have been cut to the Central Highlands, religious gatherings outlawed, electricity to some Christian homes cut and bibles confiscated.
A Cambodian Interior Ministry police official said intelligence officers have been sent to the border to lead the investigation of what could be over 100 refugees.
Mondolkiri province Police Chief Reach Samnang denied reports of Montagnards entering Cambodia.
More than 1,000 Montagnards fled from Vietnam to Cambodia last year after Hanoi sent troops to crush ethnic minority demonstrations for land rights and religious freedoms.
Phnom Penh agreed earlier this year to an offer from Washington to resettle the refugees in the US, and then sealed its border to new asylum seekers and demanded the UN close two refugee camps.
A US embassy official said on Monday that reports of a fresh influx of Montagnard refugees have been received, however the information has not been confirmed.
The official said the UN High Commissioner for Refugees should investigate the claims to determine if the reports were true.
“UNHCR is the lead agency and they have the mandate to investigate, if in fact it is true,” he said.
Cambodia is a signatory to the UN refugee convention and must allow the UN access to determine the asylum seekers, he added.
UNHCR staff in Phnom Penh could not be contacted for comment on Monday and did not return telephone calls.
Vietnamese Embassy press attache Nguyen Thanh Duc said he was unaware of new Montagnard reports.
