Hmong Insurgency

Hmong Insurgency
Date 1975 -Present Location Northern Laos Status Conflict primarily over after majority of Hmong people immigrated to United States. However, several revolutionary plots by Hmong citizens living in the U.S have been uncovered in the last few years but no violence has been reported in Laos.[1]
Belligerents
Laos government  Vietnam	Hmong insurgents
Casualties and losses
	2,000-3,000

The Hmong Insurgency is a military conflict between the Lao People's Army and members of the former "Secret Army", whom it has persecuted since their defeat in the Laotian Civil War around 1975.

History

The conflict stems from three events prior to Laos independence: a failed coup attempt by the Red Prince, Hmong aiding the French in Xieng Khoung against Lao and Vietnamese forces, and the French giving Hmong rights to Laos as equal to the Lao.^{[citation needed]}

In 1946 Prince Souphanouvang and his brothers Souvanna Phouma and Phetsarath overthrew Laos King and imprisoned him in a pig pen. Touby Lyfoung, a Hmong leader, led a combined French, Lao, and Hmong force to relieve the Village of Xieng Khoung from a combined Lao and Vietnamese force and saving the French representative in the village. After the victory in Xieng Khoung, Lyfoung led a Hmong force to Luang Phrabang and rescued the King from the pig pen ending the coup. In return for his service, the French offered to make Laos a Hmong country but Lyfong declined instead accepting a partnership with the Lao people. Two plaques symbolizing the agreement were placed in the King's palace in Luang Phrabang.^{[citation needed]}

After the failed coup, Souphanouvang went to Vietnam for assistance. In 1960, Kong Le joined the Red Prince in his second coup attempt but Vang Pao and the Hmong were in the way. With Kong Le coming from Vientiane and Vietnamese troops approaching from the East, Vang Pao accepted the US assistance and prevented the coup again. Under the leadership of the General Vang Pao, Hmong forces kept the Pathet Lao and the Red Prince in check, rescued downed American pilots, and helped US coordinate bombing missions over Vietnam with a radar station at Long Cheng. By 1975, America had largely withdrawn and the Pathet Lao took control of the government. Hmong people, especially those who had participated in the military conflict were singled out for retribution. Thus began a mass exodus of 300,000 refugees, including many Hmong, to camps in Thailand.

Of those Hmong people who remained in Laos, between two and three thousand were sent to re-education camps as political prisoners where they served sentences of 3–5 years. Enduring hard physical labor and difficult conditions, many people died.^[2] Thousands more Hmong people, mainly former soldiers and their families, escaped to remote mountain regions - particularly Phou Bia, the highest (and thus least accessible) mountain peak in Laos. At first, these loosely organized groups staged attacks against Pathet Lao and Vietnamese troops. Others remained in hiding to avoid conflict. Initial military successes by these small bands led to military counter-attacks by government forces, including aerial bombing and heavy artillery, as well as the use of defoliants and chemical weapons.^[3]

Today, most Hmong people in Laos live peacefully in villages and cities, but small groups of Hmong people, many of them second or third generation descendants of former CIA soldiers, remain internally displaced in remote parts of Laos, in fear of government reprisals. As recently as 2003, there were reports of sporadic attacks by these groups, but journalists who have visited their secret camps in recent times have described them as hungry, sick, and lacking weapons beyond Vietnam War era rifles.^[4][5] Despite posing no military threat, the Lao government has continued to characterize these people as "bandits" and continues to attack their positions, often killing and injuring women and children. Most casualties occur while people are gathering food from the jungle, since any permanent settlement is impossible.^[6]

Faced with continuing military operations against them by the government and a scarcity of food, some groups have begun coming out of hiding, while others have sought asylum in Thailand and other countries.^[7]

Some Hmong fled to California in the United States after the U.S. military withdrew from Vietnam and ended its war in Indochina. In June 2005 as part of "Operation Tarnished Eagle" U.S. FBI and anti-terrorism officials uncovered a "conspiracy to murder thousands and thousands of people at one time" and violently overthrow the government of Laos. The plot included ex-U.S. Army Rangers, former Green Berets and other guns for hire.^[8] The plotters were to use rifles, Stinger surface-to-air missiles, anti-tank rockets and other arms and munitions smuggled from the U.S. via Thailand to "reduce government buildings in Vientiane to rubble", said Bob Twiss, an assistant U.S. attorney.^[9] Lieutenant-Colonel Harrison Ulrich Jack, a retired California National Guard officer who reportedly served in covert operations during the Vietnam War (in Laos in co-ordination with the Hmong and other tribal groups) and former General Vang Pao were named as the probable ringleaders of the coup plot. Vang Pao had reportedly built up a strong network of contacts within the U.S. government and corporate circles sympathetic to his cause.^[10] Some speculate that the proposed new government would be much more accepting of large foreign business and may also lead to an explosion of the drugs trade as has been the case in Afghanistan.^[11]

See also

• 2007 Laotian coup d'état attempt

References

1. ^ http://www.nnn.se/n-model/foreign/hmong.htm
2. ^ The Hmong: An Introduction to their History and Culture
3. ^ Minority Policies and the Hmong in Laos(Published in Stuart-Fox, M. ed. Contemporary Laos: Studies in the Politics and Society of the Lao People’s Democratic Republic (St.Lucia: Queensland University Press, 1982), pp. 199 - 219)[1]
4. ^ Perrin, Andrew (2003-04-28). "Welcome to the Jungle". Time Magazine. http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,501030505-447253,00.html. Retrieved 2007-04-27. 
5. ^ Arnold, Richard (2007-01-19). "Laos: Still a Secret War". Worldpress. http://www.worldpress.org/Asia/2641.cfm. Retrieved 2007-04-27. 
6. ^ "Lao People’s Democratic Republic". Amnesty International. 2007-03-27. http://web.amnesty.org/library/Index/ENGASA260032007. Retrieved 2007-04-27. 
7. ^ Kinchen, David (2006-11-17). "438 former "Cob Fab" removed by helicopter after they came out of hiding". Hmong Today. http://www.hmongtoday.com/displaynews.asp?ID=2384. Retrieved 2007-03-22. 
8. ^ See http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/6721313.stm, and http://www.sacbee.com/101/story/225993.html
9. ^ Al Jazeera English - News - Nine Charged Over Laos 'Coup Plot'
10. ^ US agents thwart planned Laos coup plot | csmonitor.com
11. ^ USATODAY.com - Rise of drug trade threat to Afghanistan's security

External links

• FactFinding.org - information about the Hmong veterans of the Secret War remaining in the jungles of Laos (requires Adobe Flash)
• "Acts of Betrayal", by Michael Johns, National Review, October 23, 1995.
• Clips from "Hunted like animals" - a documentary by Rebecca Sommer on the plight of the Hmong in Laos and problems faced by those facing repatriation from Thai refugee camps