Four Montagnard villages in Vietnam’s Central Highlands have been surrounded by heavily armed soldiers since the start of last week, a US-based lobby group, the Montagnard Foundation, claimed in a statement Monday.
The allegations come on the heels of 10 Montagnard asylum-seekers from Vietnam’s Gia Lai province having arrived in Ratanakkiri province Friday, after attempting to cross the border with 40 others who were turned back by Vietnamese authorities, a local rights worker reported.
The staunchly anti-Vietnamese Montagnard Foundation alleges that Vietnamese soldiers in about 40 trucks surrounded the villages in Vietnam’s Phu Yen province on May 15 in an attempt to suppress protests arising after several Montagnards were allegedly denied medical treatment due to their race.
Three Montagnards from the province’s Son Hoa district needed treatment after they were allegedly attacked with a machete by an ethnic Vietnamese man, the foundation claimed in a statement. The foundation has admitted exaggerating reports in the past.
“The Montagnard Foundation prays for a peaceful solution and requests the Vietnamese soldiers use restraint,” the foundation said.
A Vietnamese Embassy official said he could not comment on the report but added that the Montagnards had no cause for complaint.
“They are living peacefully and [the] same for other minorities in the Vietnamese community,” he said.
“They are facing no more persecution and are living in better conditions and this was recognized by a [representative] from UNHCR,” he added.
Last month, UN High Commissioner for Refugees Assistant High Commissioner for Protection Erika Feller said the process of returning 190 Montagnard asylum-seekers who were returned to Gia Lai from Cambodia was “working well.”
Feller added that the UN agency had “no serious concerns” about conditions awaiting the returnees.
UNHCR spokeswoman Deborah Backus said her agency could not verify the foundation’s claims and therefore could not comment.
