DOCUMENT: DEGA.TXT THE MONTAGNARD FOUNDATION Supplemental Materials for a Presentation Made to the United Nations Workshop on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, Geneva, July 19 - 30, 1993 * Human Rights Violations--The People of the Dega Republic. * Federal Ordinance [France] of 27 May 1946 creating A Federal Government Commissariat For The Montagnard Poplulations of South Indochina. * Government Decree [Vietnam Republic] of 21 May 1951 According Special Guarantees To Montagnards For Free Evolution of Montagnards, Their Traditions, And Their Customs. ATTACHMENT 5 THE DEGA REPUBLIC THE MONTAGNARD/DEGA INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS COMMITTEE PO Box 17064 Spartanburg, SC 29301 (803)585-0780 HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS - THE PEOPLE OF THE DEGA REPUBLIC I. INTRODUCTION: To secure justice for minority groups suffering from discrimination, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights by the General Assembly of the United Nations on December 10, 1948 stated: Article 1. All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act toward one another in a spirit of brotherhood. Article 2. Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration, without distinction of any kinds, such as race, color, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status. Furthermore, no distinction shall be made on the basis of the political, jurisdictional status of the country or territory to which a person belongs, whether it be independent trust, non-self governing or under any limitation of sovereignty. We, the members of the International Human Rights Committee of the DEGA Republic, representing the first inhabitants living in the Central Highlands of Vietnam, have the honor to report to Amnesty International, the United Nations organisation, the free and peace-thirsting countries in the world to request your investigation and help concerning the Vietnamese barbarous acts that are being imposed on the Dega people. II. GENERAL EXPOSITION We, the Montagnard, Dega people, the true owner of the Central Highlands of Vietnam, just like other people in the world, have our historical and cultural background which has been perpetuated through generations. DEGA PEOPLE'S ORIGIN The Dega people of South Indochina (PMSIEN) of the Malayo-Polynesian were the first who ever reached and occupied the central of Vietnam, in the first century B.C. When our ancestors first arrived in the central of Vietnam, they set up their country along the coastal area. Centuries later, Champa people whom our ancestors called "Prum", came from southern India and settled their kingdom along the Red River in North Vietnam. The Vietnamese people came from the southern part of China and fought with Champa people. After their kingdom was destroyed by the Vietnamese in 1697, the Champa people fled south along the coastal areas and asked to stay with our ancestors peacefully. When they gained more power, the Champa people forced our ancestors to move to the mountainous areas and took over our coastal plains. Since then, our people spread out in small groups and lived in the Central Highlands of Indochina until these days. Early in the 19th century the Vietnamese wanted to expand their land because their population was growing. The only way to do that was to chase the Champa people all the way to Cambodia. Since then, the Vietnamese have illegally occupied our coastal region. The DEGA people have always been oppressed by the neighboring countries. When the French explorers and missionaries came to the Central Highlands, the DEGA people expected that they would be released from the Cham and Vietnamese oppression. Instead,, the French imposed hardships on our people through our administrative structure which was established in Daklak province in 1890. Mr. Bourgeois was the first French province chief in Daklak. When the French were about to grant up an autonomous country under the French colonial Federal government of Indochina, they were expelled by the Japanese empire. Before the Japanese were defeated in 1945, they illegally authorized the Viet Minh control of the Central Highlands. When the French came back to our country in December, 1945, and found that our four provinces of Kom-Tum, Plei-Ku, Daklak, and Haut Donai were occupied by the Viet Minh, they started to organize a DEGA Army that would liberate our four provinces. After four months of combat, the French and the Montagnard troops had liberated the four provinces of the Montagnard in Central Vietnam (Kom-Tum, Plei-Ku, Daklak, and Haut Donai) from the occupation of the communist Viet Minh. Because of the bloodshed, sacrifice, courage, honesty, and loyalty of the Montagnards, the French had compassion and pity towards our people. They created an autonomous country which was called "Pays Montagnards du Sud Indochinois" (P.M.S.I.) which means the Country of the Montagnards of South Indochina. The ordinance was signed on May 27, 1946, by Mr. D'Argenlieu, a representative of the French Federal government in Indochina. (A copy of the ordinance is attached.) Thus, this gave to the DEGA people a particular statute, a flag with the elephant head, a federal commissariat and the organization of the Armed Forces called "Armed Forces of the Central Highlands." A map of the Central Highlands was established as follows: - To the North limited by the 17th parallel, - To the East limited by Annamitic Ridge (Chaine Annamitique) - To the South limited by the Cochinchin border, - To the West limited by the Laotian and Cambodian borders, The French government established an efficient administrative system throughout the Highlands by appointing DEGA officials to hold different offices of the autonomous system from the provincial to the hamlets level. But the French colonial system held all important positions for better control over the overall infrastructure. None of the DEGA officials were allowed to hold the key positions; in fact, the DEGA were only trained to render services rather than make decisions, even though the DEGA had sufficient capacity to assume the position. This manner of restricting the DEGA people who had the potential to be leaders is as serious form of human rights violation. It prevented the DEGA people from having a chance to consolidate the autonomous system which had been granted to them. The colonial government opened the elementary schools throughout the Highlands. Their six year program provided a minimum level of knowledge, which left its graduates able to assume low level positions as secretaries, nurses, teachers, etc. Only one junior high school, a two year program, was set up at Banmethuot (College Sabatier), to serve all the DEGA students. All the graduates of the Junior High were sent to a vocational school for one year to be trained to serve in low level positions. None of the graduates were sent to French High School or to any higher institutions in Vietnam to continue their education. This was a serious intention to limit their educational development. Therefore, it restricted the formation of the leadership in the autonomous system which had been granted to the DEGA. The colonial government set up a strong local defense system by forming thirteen battalions throughout the Highlands. All noncommissioned officers were DEGA people. Out of thirteen battalions, only one battalion commander was a DEGA officer. Only non-commissioned officers' centers were opened to the military forces at Buon-Don and Lac- Thien. None of the DEGA had any training for the leadership of the Armed Forces. During the eight-years war against the Viet-Minh (1946- 1954), the French intention was to recruit the Montagnard youngsters, organizing thirteen battalions to serve the Bao- Dai and French armies. In this war of conquest and ideology in Indochina, the Montagnard people had shown their courage and loyalty towards the French people. Through their participation in the Indochina War, the Montagnard people did not only help and serve the Bao-Dai-French governments, they also wanted to protect their autonomy to maintain peace and freedom in the Central Highlands. Unfortunately, the French government used the Montagnard force as a deployment for strategic defense only against the Vietminh insurrection. During the mop-up operations, the French used all the remaining healthy people to carry many heavy supplies, ammunition and food for the troops. Many people died from exhaustion and sickness in the intemperate tropical jungles and weather. During the Siames War many young Montagnards lost their lives, not for their own benefit, but for the French colonial interest in Cambodia and Laos. Finally, the 13 battalions were set up to protect the "Domaine de la Couronne" for the Vietnamese Empire, rather than consolidating the grant autonomy. So the French had recognized the Montagnard autonomous country for using the inhabitants to protect their own investments in the Central Highlands, such as tea, coffee and rubber plantations instead of consolidating the DEGA nation. Furthermore, at their withdrawal from Indochina, they took one Montagnard battalion with them to fight as mercenaries in the North- Africa War. According to the Decree Number 06, dated on 15 of April 1950, the French government illegally detached out the northern remote region where there were inhabitants not controlled by the French apart from the Central Highlands. Then, the French had rectified PMSI which became PMS (Peuple Montagnard du Sud) only named for the Montagnards of the Central Highlands. After the Geneva conference on July 20, 1954, the Indochina War was ended. At the conference there were delegations from France, Britain, the US, the Soviet- Union, the Peoples Republic of China, Cambodia, Laos, South and North Vietnam, but not representative from the Montagnard people. We could not understand why the French did not allow the representative from the autonomous country of the Montagnards to participate in the conference. To the Montagnard DEGA point of view, the conference agreements were unfair, because the Montagnard Autonomy, sovereignty and integrity were crushed down and the Montagnard land illegally became a part of the Vietnam State. The agreement on the cessation of hostilities in Vietnam was signed only by the representatives of France and Vietminh. In the final declaration, no one from the delegations signed it. It was in effect an unsigned treaty. Therefore, it should be declared null and void. So the Vietnamese have no rights to annex the DEGA republic that historically had never known Vietnamese rule. With the Geneva agreement, the French withdrew their army from Indochina, and Vietnam was divided in two, under the dictatorships of Ho Chi Minh (North) and Diem (South>) The Dega people were placed under the domination of the South Vietnam government and had been classified as ethnic minorities in Vietnamese territory. Though both sides had different ideologies, the Vietnam authorities always nursed their ambition for expansion, which they inherited from their ancestors, and they continued trying to exterminate the Dega people. To conceal their expansionist ambitions, Ho Chi Minh betrayed the Montagnard revolutionists by falsely promising to return their old autonomy as soon as the South could be freed from foreign domination. At the same time, the South Vietnamese resettled one million north refugees into Dega land. So, from the Vietnam immigration into the Central Highlands, there have been tremendous sacrifices and suffering for the Dega people due to the barbarous Vietnamese policy. In 1955 the Republic of Vietnam under President Ngo- Dinh-Diem was established. He acceded to power and ruled with an iron hand, abolishing radically the Dega autonomy, and annexing the Central Highlands territory to Vietnam. Diem's plan was to try to assimilate the Montagnard people into the Vietnamese cultural sphere. Then he applied a series of inhuman policies by compelling Dega military men and civil servants to take Vietnamese names, and by changing the names of Dega hamlets, provinces, mountains, rivers and streams into Vietnamese names. He also applied his secret program of genocide by poisoning food and alcohol sold to the Montagnards. He prohibited teaching the Dega language all over the Central Highlands, burned all documents and books written in our language, and abolished tribal courts and land property rights. Besides, Ngo-Dinh-Diem settled one million North Vietnamese refugees all over the Central Highlands on fertile Dega lands and chased the Dega people to another place, unsuitable for farming. Those who opposed his will were jailed, tortured or killed. By claiming they were pro- communist Vietnamese, Ngo-Dinh-Diem covered the massacre of thousands of Dega people in the Central Highlands. On March 11, 1955, Diem put the Central Highlands (PMS from pays Montagnard du Sud) under the administration of the Saigon government. He promulgated Decree No. 61, appointing a government delegate, Ton-That-Hoi (Vietnamese) in Bamethuot and replaced all of the French residents in 7 provinces with the Vietnamese province chiefs, no Dega. The Vietnamese have full power over the Central Highlands and are free to do whatever they want to do to the Montagnard people. In August 1955 the secondary schools and primary schools in the Central Highlands were turned over to the Vietnamese government and renamed in the Vietnamese language. Since that time, the Vietnamese language became the language of instruction, which forced the Dega students who were not fluent in the language to leave the school. This dictatorial condition caused many Dega students to sacrifice all their educational opportunities. On the day of the Bao-Dai and Diem election in October 1955, the Central Highlands officially became the national territory of the Republic of Vietnam. By the end of 1955, 13 battalions of Dega that had been in the French Army were being reorganized and integrated into the Vietnamese Army; all Montagnard commanders were replaced by Vietnamese ones. Later on, these battalions had to be dispersed and served in the coastal provinces. In 1957 the land development program was designed to attain the dual goals of developing the Highlands economically and bringing modernization to the Dega people (he said), but in fact, he used this plan to settle one million Vietnamese people in the Central Highlands in order to occupy the Dega land. This program was the first direct American involvement with Saigon; therefore Diem ignored any reaction of the Dega leaders. Diem wanted to wipe out all French influence in the Central Highlands. Afterward, the Administration of the region would have to be reorganized because Diem believed that the Dega people were backward and small groups would easily be assimilated into the Vietnamese type of village life. Then Diem forced the Dega villagers to move and live along the trails of the National Road. Because the region was sparsely populated, Diem deemed it was necessary to move Vietnamese from the overpopulated coastal provinces where there was too much sand and not enough soil into the Central Highlands. They would also bring Vietnamese culture to the indigenous people. Late in 1956, Ngo-Dinh-Diem and Leland Barrow, the director of the USOM (United States Operation Mission) developed the land development program to integrate the Central Highlands into the Vietnam state and to create a strategic wall of Vietnam along the borders with Laos and Cambodia. On February 16, 1957 an agreement for American support of the "P.M.S. (Pays Montagnard du Sud), land development" project was signed by the acting director of USOM and a high ranking Vietnamese official. The land development program claims that of the 5,700.000 hectares in the Central Highlands which described the P.M.S. as an area in which "90% of the inhabitants are Montagnards who practice a rudimentary and extremely wasteful type of cultivation." On April 23, 1957, the Commissariat General for land development was established. This agency was organized like a ministry directly under control of President Ngo-Dinh-Diem and Vice President Ngugen-Ngoc-Tho. After the Geneva agreements and 4 very short years of false peace had come to the Central Highlands, the Montagnard people were forced to leave their old villages and move along the trail to look for peace through the land development program of President Ngo-Dinh-Diem and Wolf Landejinsky, his American advisor. This program, also called "Assimilation Program." began to destroy the ethnic minorities in the Central Highlands. Seeing that Ngo-Dinh-Diem's way of administration was an unbearable oppression and barbarous one, aiming to exterminate the Dega race, the Dega people lost their hope in living together with the Vietnamese. All the Dega leaders found themselves increasingly concerned about the future of the Dega people in the Central Highlands. Because of all the hardship that we had been through, we stood up and fought for our rights. DEGA PEOPLE'S REVOLUTION For the purpose of safeguarding their survival and taking back the autonomy which had already been granted by the French federal government in Indochina, the Dega people organized an uprising in 1958. The movement was comprised of four main tribes; the Bahnar, Jarai, Rade, Koho "called Bajaraka" under the leadership of Mr. Y-Bham-Enuol. This struggle was not to consider the Vietnamese people as enemies or to dispute other people's territory. The main point was to recover, by a peaceful way, the independence and the right of living for the Dega people as it was insured by the UNO for every people in the world. The movement of Bajaraka resounded all over the world. Meanwhile, instead of resolving the problem favorably, Diem's tyrannical government responded by force, using offensive means and had Mr. Y-Bhan-Enuol and six of Bajaraka's leaders put in jail on September 15, 1958. These other six Bajaraka's leaders were: Mr. Paul-Nur Mr. Nay-Luet Mr. Y-Thih-Eban Mr. Siu-Sip Mr. Y-Ju-Eban Mr. Touneh-Yoh All of the arrested Bajaraka leaders were sent to Dalat and put in underground solitary cells for three months. On November 26, 1958, they were taken to Hue and put in the criminal section of the prison. During this period, Ngo-Dinh-Diem's government always continued his plans of assimilation program on Central Highlands; the security was the main force to protect his plan. He also confiscated and seized all traditional weapons, such as cross bows, spears and knives for fear of the same kind of general uprising among the Dega people. In 1959, 10,877 hectares of rainforest were cleared to resettle political opponents Plei Ku and Banmethuot areas in the traditional land rights of the Dega people, regardless of their claim. Wolf Ladejinsky, President Diem's American advisor, who falsely described the Central Highlands as a wilderness, where none but nomadic tribesmen lived, agreed that land development should proceed without regard to the Highlanders' claims. The director of USOM decided for the Highland the standard of living they might achieve. Each Montagnard family would receive two hectares, but each Vietnamese resettler would receive five hectares. He also pointed out that the population of the Montagnard region was sparse and the Highlanders only used the swidden method which was "backward and wasteful." In order to bring more functionaries and military personnel into the Central Highlands, a decree by Diem on May 28, 1959 stated that the Dega people had the rights to enjoy only the produce of the land they cultivated, but they did not have the rights to own land in the Central Highlands. Besides, all the Montagnard villagers living far from controlled areas have to move along the main route, and each family would receive one hectare for farming under the guidance of the Vietnamese. If the Highlanders refused to move to the new villages, the province chief would ban swidden farming, leaving them no alternative but to move. To implement the land development program, American advisors and the Vietnamese government in Saigon disregarded and thought that it was not necessary to worry about Highlanders' land claims. In this period, many Americans made research trips into the Highlands, such as Dr. Gerald Hickey and Frederick Wickert; they knew and wrote reports about all of the problems. Then, the Saigon government tried to conceal the problems and pointed out that "anyone going to the Highlands have to study Vietnamese, Highlander relations should talk only with the province chiefs rather than with local people in order to avoid any possible misunderstanding." A number of priests and American missionaries were concerned about the Vietnamese taking Montagnard land in the Central Highlands because many of the Highland villagers began to complain about ill treatment by the Vietnamese. Vietnamese soldiers sometimes entered villages to steal animals, fruit and vegetables. Many Montagnard people were constantly being cheated by Vietnamese merchants because our people could not understand the Vietnamese language. Many problems occurred between Montagnard and Vietnamese people, although the province chief put them aside and did not want to solve the problems. The Montagnard people lived in perpetual discrimination., injustice and unfair treatment from the Vietnamese provincial authorities. A group of American researchers had filed their findings on the Central Highlands, reporting to the Saigon government and making recommendations concerning the need to solve the Highlanders' land claims. Ngo-Dinh- Diem and his advisor, Wolf Ladejinsky were very upset by this report and said that the Highland people loved the Vietnamese and desired to emulate them. Even though they knew that they were wrong and felt guilty; they still wanted to continue their land development program. Therefore, they agreed and the land development program moved ahead without regard for the Highlands' people's claims and if any problem would not be a lease but forced the Dega to sell their land. On July 1959, there were 38 land development centers called Dinh-Dien: - 21 in Plei-Ku - 9 in Daklak - 2 in Kontum - 6 in Daknong With the land development program, the resettlement in the Highlands increased; they had a total 75,000 Vietnamese and occupied 15,016 hectares of land. Ngo-Dinh-Diem and Wolf Ladejinsky's effort to bring Vietnamese culture to the Highlands resulted in changing many place names during this period. Cheo-Reo became Phu-Bon Buon Ama Thuot became Lac Giao Djring became Bao-Loc The Montagnard law court was not abolished directly; but the Diem put Vietnamese law into effect among the Montagnard. Some of the Vietnamese provincial administrators had their own mean laws of trying to abolish Highland traditions. In 1961 Ngo-Dinh-Diem carried out the strategic hamlet program which went along with the program heavily supported by American Aid chapter to implement this program. Ngo-Dinh- Diem brought a million North Vietnam refugees to pour in the Highlands. To implement the program in the Montagnard fertile ancestral lands without the complaint of the Dega people, gathered all Dega from the pin-pointed villages into one big concentration camp. The largest camp of the strategic hamlet program was known as "Edap-Enang" in Plei- Ku. It was a big concentration camp of over 50,000 Montagnard livings in Thanh-An district. While the Montagnard Dega were imprisoned in "Edap Enang" camp, Ngo- Dinh-Diem settled North Vietnamese refugees into the former Montagnard hamlets. Edap Enang was a big failure. One year later Edap Enang was disintegrated. Unfortunately, they could not return to their former villages, since the Vietnamese were already developing this into Thanh Giao, Thanh Binh, Xung Thien and Thanh Ngoc, North Vietnamese refugees centers. Through Ngo-Dinh-Dinh's strategic hamlet program (1961- 1962), the south tried to grab Dega land and control the Dega people. North (Viet Cong) used terrorist apparatus in the Dega hamlets. Both sides had the same goal and scheme. By 1962 40 percent of the population of Kontum, Plei- Ku, Buon-Amathuot, Cheo-Reo, Dalat, Djring, and Dak-Nong were Vietnamese. To grab more land for the Vietnamese, Ngo- Dinh-Diem undertook the Highlands resettlement program, heavily supported by the American Mission in Vietnam. In 1961 the 23rd Infantry Division of the 11 Corps destroyed without reason Buon-Cu-Phiang, Yang-Bong, Buon Plum, Buon-Ja Ea Kuatt, Krong-Kmar of Lac Thien District, Daklak Province. The 23rd Division forced the people of these hamlets to move, destroyed all properties and asked the air forces to bomb the whole area, accusing the inhabitants of having connections with the Viet Cong. The Montagnard were regrouped along major roads, away from their traditional lands in the forest. The Jarai were put along Route 7B in Phu Yen Province, the Rhade and some Roglai along Route 21 in Khanh Hoa and Daklak. The Mnong, Ma Cil and Chru were moved along Route 20 in Tuyen Duc and Lam Dong and 600 Roglai were relocated on Route 1. Forty thousand Bahnar in Knotum were regrouped in 1961 equaling about half its Dega population. By 1963, 111,000 Dega became refugees, uprooted from their culture and in Tan My Camp on Route 1 where the Roglai were relocated, 600 died during the years 1957-1959 from malaria, starvation, and the heat. one hundred and seventy three other centers endured the same fate. The communists conducted a parallel program of their own relocating Dega. By 1957, the Viet Cong systematically relocated several thousand Katu in Quang Nam into the jungle. In 1960 many villages of Sedang and Jeh in Daksut district Kintum Province were also relocated beyond the reach of the south Vietnam control. They were used as labor on the Ho Chi Minh Trail. In 1962, a contest developed between the South Vietnam government and the Viet Cong in Quang Tri for the control and abuse of the Bru Tribe. Some were relocated by South Vietnam, while others vanished along the Ho Chi Minh Trail serving as maintenance labor. Even though the Diem's government applied an inhuman policy aiming to annihilate the Dega people's aspirations, the Dega morale did not decrease, but they were waiting for a favorable occasion to carry on their struggle. After the overthrowing of Ngo-Dinh-Diem's government the American Embassy convinced the government of General Nguyen-Khanh to release Mr. Y-Bham-Enuol and the other six Bajaraka leaders on February 12, 1964. But the successors of Saigon's governments continued applying oppressive policy toward the Dega people as Diem had done, and did not want to solve the problems. Mr. Y-Bham-Enuol then decided to continue his politics in a peaceful way. He thought that with the assistance of the United States government through negotiations with the Vietnamese government, the Montagnard people would regain their autonomy. Once again, Mr. Y-Bham- Enuol was unsuccessful, since he was only known by some of the free world countries. The United Front, the Khmer Krom and the Champa people in Cambodia want to use this occasion for their own movement. Therefore,, they asked to join Mr. Y-Bham-Enuol and organized a new front called "Front Unifie De Lutte Des Races Opreemees" (FULRO) on August 1, 1964. This common front was only to combine forces in order to defeat common enemies. Organization and administration were independently decided according to the will of each people. This Front was represented by the three-star flag. All of the three Fronts consented to take Mr. Y-Bham-Enuol as Chairman. So on September 20, 1964, Mr. Y-Bham-Enuol rose up again and directed the struggle. Consequently, there were gun battles all over the Central Highlands such as in Banmethuot, Dak-Nong, Cheo-Reo, Plei-Ku, and many other places for the purpose of reminding the Vietnamese government that it was necessary to satisfy Dega people's legal aspirations. But the Vietnamese government kept on using armed forces to repress and annihilate the resistance. Finally, Mr. Y-Bham-Enuol and several Dega military men, civil servants and countrymen took refuge in Mondulkiri Province, inside Cambodia. The complete policy of the FULRO was entirely exposed by Mr. Y-Bham-Enuol at the conference of Indochina people opened on February 25, 1965 at Phnom- Penh. Twenty four nations participated in this conference. They recognized the Dega people's legitimate and legal struggle. Since then, the FULRO's revindication has resounded in the world. Aiming to make the Vietnamese government recognize the Dega people's aspirations, there was an armed uprising on July 29, 1965 at Buon Brieng. But the Saigon government reacted with a series of inhuman repressions, arresting six hundred FULRO fighting men who were then jailed and killed secretly. Afterwards there was another revolt on December 18 and 19, 1965 in Plei-Ku, Ceo-Reo and Dak-Nong Provinces. As a result, Saigon's government sentenced to death four Dega FULRO's military men. Their names were: - Nay Ry - Ksor Bleo - R'Com Re - Ksor Boh. The Vietnamese authority also killed two hundred and three Dega people secretly; most of these were countrymen having no relation to FULRO. In addition, thirty-five Dega officers and civil servants were put in jail. As a result, many nations criticized and blamed the Vietnamese barbarism, especially Radio Australia in its broadcast on 20th December 1965. At length, in order to avoid international opinion's criticism, the Vietnamese government consented to receive Mr. Y-Bham-Enuol for a meeting with General Vionh-Loc, Saigon's representative at Banmethuot, on May 4, 1967. At the meeting Mr. Y-Bham-Enuol explained and asked the Saigon government's authority to accept the eight points of the Dega people's aspirations which were as follows: 1. To accord a special statute on a special constitution for the Dega people. 2. To settle the special commissioners for Dega affairs at Buon Ama Thuot, the capital of the Dega Republic PMS Plateaux Montagnards du Sud. 3. To permit the recruitment and organization of Dega Armed Force. 4. To return to the Central Highlands all Dega civil servants and military men on duty outside Dega territory. 5. To permit Dega people to receive aid directly from the USA or from other nations. 6. To raise the Dega flag at the same height as the Vietnamese flag. 7. The borders could be marked, provided that the Dega people could get back their autonomy. 8. To agree to the participation of the Dega people in the Geneva Conference or in other international conferences. But Saigon's governrnent was recalcitrant and did not accept any of the eight points. Besides, it gave a lot of pretexts aiming to postpone responding to the Dega people's aspirations. After 4 years of cooperation with the common Front, Mr. Y-Bham-Enuol discovered that Campuja North and Champa Front took advantage of the situation by using the Dega people to claim the territory of the Central Highlands from Vietnam. On July 15, 1968 Mr. Y-Bham-Enuol decided to establish clear cut responsibilities and interests of different components of FULRO. He designated the Dega's responsibilities and interests with the ultimate goal of claiming the Central Highlands' sovereignty and integrity. This decision was made known clearly to the Saigon government at the same date. From then on the FULRO was composed of three Fronts: 1. The Liberation Front of the Central Highlands Dega (in French, Front de Liberation des Hauts-Plateaux Montagnard Dega ( FLHPM\FULRO) 2. The Liberation Front of Khmer Krom (FLKK\FULRO) 3. The Liberation Front of Champa (FLC\FULRO) The Dega Highlands Liberation Front (FLHPM) was now really independent and only for the liberation of the Dega people and the Dega territory on the Central Highlands and sole struggle with the Saigon government. Meanwhile, after many insistences from outside and seeing that Mr. Y-Bham-Enuol had defined clearly his political view and interest, Nguyen-Van-Thieu realized that the Dega problem had to be resolved, otherwise there would be more trouble. So on September 1968, President Nguyen-Van- Thieu consented to receive Mr. Y-Bham-Enuol for a meeting at Saigon where the discussion was about the eight points. No concrete decision was made at the end of the meeting. Nguyen-Van-Thieu used the time as a weapon to delay in finding an appropriate response to the aspirations of the Dega people. Consequently, after the Saigon meeting, Mr. Y-Bham- Enuol returned to FLHPM's Central seat in Cambodia. Afterward he decided to nominate Mr. Kpa-Koi (KPK) as vice- president of the FLHPM on October 20, 1973. His assignment was to reorganize the struggle and ask the Vietnamese government to satisfy the eight points. At the closing ceremony of the workshop on the reorganization of the administrative bureaucracy red tape and effectiveness of civil servants in 1974, the brother of Nguyen-Van-Thieu, Hoang-Duc-Nha, minister of information, disclosed that the Dega people would protect Dega land, which meant that the government would plan to withdraw from the Highlands, leaving the area and Dega people exposed to free bombing zone which was indirectly another way to exterminate the Dega people. In December 1974, Nguyen-Van- Thieu disclosed the same intention during the reception at the Independent Palace in honor of the second term of the Ethnic Minority Council opening ceremony, saying he would withdraw from the Central Highlands. In 1972 the Central Highlands situation became dangerous because Binh-Long Kon-Tum provinces were attacked by the North Vietnamese. Nay-Luet, minister for Ethnic Minority Development, was well aware that the worse war could threaten the very existence of the Dega people in the Central Highlands. The United States military units had been rapidly withdrawn, leaving the defense of the region in the hands of ill-trained, badly led Vietnamese troops who had no will to fight for the Central Highlands. So he proposed to organize a 50,000 man Highland military force to defend the Central Highlands, but the Vietnamese government and American would not consider the idea. He also proposed a plan to regroup all the Dega people in the province of Kom-Tum, Plei-Ku, Daklak, Ceo-Reo, Tuyen-Duc, and Lam-Dong in the Central Highlands. But the Saigon government was distrustful of the Dega people, because many Vietnamese military and civilian officials coveted the rich land of the Central Highlands. On March 1972, the Communists suddenly launched a sweeping offensive and attacked many important strategic places in the Central Highlands. During the fighting B-52's dropped bombs in Dega villages. Two hundred thousand Dega people perished in the war and 85% had been forced to leave their villages. Wounded and homeless, starving and sick, many of the Dega people died. The Dega leaders became distressed because things were going so badly. During this period (1958-1975) the Saigon government did not want to confront or solve the problem which the Dega people had voiced. Instead of that, it always acted inhumanly, aiming to exterminate the Dega race and they knew the Dega people's struggle would not end. Therefore, the Saigon government put the Dega people's aspirations aside until the day they were defeated by the Northern Vietnamese in 1975. For these reasons the Northern and Southern leaders attempted through ultra secret means to dominate the Central Highlands of the Dega. However, they encountered considerable difficulty. In trying to cover up their barbarous acts from foreign opinion, they knew very well that only communists dare to violate human rights. So the South Vietnamese passed the government to the Northern Vietnamese, who occupied the Central Highlands on April 10, 1975. Ironically, on March 24, 1975, Nguyen-Van- Thieu in his dark day using time as a weapon, gave his approval for a free Central Highlands,. He knew in advance that he would withdraw his troops and request that the USA Air Force strike the Central Highlands, using it as a free bombing zone. In this way the Dega people would be exterminated. At this meeting there were three high level personnel of the US government present: Colonel Jack E. Bailey Dr. Larry Ward Dr. Bob Pierre Nguyen-Van-Thieu pointed out that the Central Highlands would have to be given up if the Dega people would fight for their independence. After the subjection, Ha Noi was very happy and immediately began implementing plans to settle large numbers of North-Vietnamese into the Central Highlands, as Ngo-Dinh-Diem's plan in 1955. Many Dega leaders had been killed, captured and put in jails. Now the Ha Noi regime would be free to destroy and Vietnamize the Dega people in the Central Highlands. So then, thousands and thousands of the Dega people left their hamlets and villages and went into the jungle and managed to counter against Ha Noi from 1975 to preserve their way of life for survival and freedom and their ethnic identity. They have been abandoned by the French and Americans to their own fate. The Dega people who remain in their villages will see the new Socialist Vietnamese culture appearing all over in the Central Highlands and the Dega culture will disappear and will be destroyed forever. Before Saigon was occupied on April 4, 1975, Nay-Luet, minister of Development of Ethnic Minority, Touneh-Han-Tho, Ksor-Rot, Touprong, Ya Ba, Pierre K'Briuh and Nay Alep met with George Jacobson, Lamar Prosser, and Ed Sprague and the US Embassy. They asked for help, for protection for the Montagnard leaders and people and asked to bring their plight before the Human Rights Council of the United Nations. They knew genocide would be committed upon the Dega people, but Jacobson refused and assured them that the Vietnamese would defend Saigon. During the Tet Offensive in 1968, Viet Cong forces over ran Hue City and executed 80 high school students living in a boarding house of the Ministry for the Development of Ethnic Minorities. Another massacre of innocent Dega people took place in Daklak during the Tet Offensive in 1968. The Viet Cong used Dega people as a shield to cover their advance in the Battle of Banmethuot City by tricking them into believing that Banmethuot City was entirely liberated. They went to town to get supplies exposing themselves as living target for the 23rd Division. Thousands of Dega were killed. During the Vietnamization program, all Montagnard Special Forces units were transformed into Vietnamese Border Ranger forces. They were used as first-strike forces along the Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam borders, with the result that thousands and thousands of them were killed. In 1972 one company of regular forces commanded by Captain R- Com Cham was dropped into the Benhet area in the middle of Viet Cong forces. No one came out alive. On March 11, 1975, the South Vietnamese government Air Force bombed Buon Pam Lam, killing 125 inhabitants. The entire village was burnt to the ground. During the war between the North and the South, both sides had the same plans and goals. The Viet Cong used and forced the Dega villagers to supply them with food, many and young women for their entertainment. Those who refused were killed publicly in order to scare the villagers. It was reported to the South Vietnamese government that the villagers supported the enemy. Then the government sent troops to destroy that village. The villagers were arrested, tortured, imprisoned and killed. The North Vietnamese flew the Viet Cong flag in Dega villages and then reported to the South Vietnamese government that the village was full of Viet Cong and needed to be destroyed. The government gladly sent the Vietnamese or U.S. air strikes to destroy that village along with the people in it. They also frightened the Dega villagers by saying that the U.S. air strikes would destroy their village, but that it would be safe for the villagers to hide with them in the jungle. So, many Dega villagers were far from the southern government's control, had moved into the jungle and moved around with the Viet Cong since their villages had been burnt. They had no place to go and slaved for the Viet Cong. They forbade the Dega to have babies. Crying babies would make it easy for the enemy to spot them, so they killed all babies. Thousands of other Dega villagers got killed by the South Vietnamese troops. The Vietnamese are very clever. They exterminate our Dega race by logical methods, so that no one in the world would know that they intentionally do it. our Dega population has not increased for many years. STRUGGLE AGAINST HANOI'S GOVERNMENT After the complete occupation of South Vietnam by the Communists, the Dega people were put under the domination of the Vietnamese Communist authority. In that period Dega people's revolution was tightly maintained; it was hoped that the new regime would solve the Dega problem and would respond favorable to the Dega peoples' requests. But instead, Hanoi applied an oppressive policy more barbarous than Saigon's former government. The ministry was abolished. All the Montagnard leaders were arrested and sent to re- education camps, where they were exposed to torture and excessive work. Some Montagnard leaders became painfully aware of the fate of their people. In this situation the Dega people cannot avoid being exterminated by the North Vietnamese Communists. So the Dega revolutionary forces and people arose to resist Hanoi's government from 1975 up to now. They must carry out a long term struggle in difficult conditions and fight until the Vietnamese government recognizes and satisfied the following requests: 1. To recognize the Dega people as the legal and true masters of the Central Highlands in South-lndochina. 2. To withdraw all Vietnamese administration and military structures (Troops and war materials) from the Central Highlands Dega, without any condition. 3. To return to the Dega people their territory sovereignty and self-determination rights. 4. To return to the Dega people their independence. During this period, the war became worse. The Dega people were in a very difficult situation as they cannot survive the homicidal plan of North Vietnam. International opinion is still unaware and ignores their cruel acts. ADMINISTRATION In order to be able to carry out their devious administration, to die their acts from international opinion and from the Dega people, the Vietnamese Communists hide behind their slogan which looks logical to outsiders. They say their way of governing is based on equality; by such a slogan they wish to conquer the Dega people's will and to use them as they wish, especially in compelling persons to serve in the military from fifteen up to forty-five years of age without sex distinction. Besides, they also are deceptive in that the Dega and Vietnamese country and people are one. They are attempting to hide their tricks from the outside world and to Vietnamize legally the Dega territory and people. The most effective methods adopt these ways: They have installed faithful brainwashed puppets as official employees in all the administrative infrastructure services at hamlet, district and province levels for their own interests. This enables them to direct their harmful deeds on the Dega people. Hanoi has a very insidious political aim of taking possession of Dega territory. To consolidate their position, the government assigns ignorant civil servants loyal to the party to every function from the Central echelon to the grass--roots level. As a result, all the civil servants have no initiatives but to act as the party wills. They control every aspect of the daily life of the people. Whoever opposes their orders must be jailed or killed. So they have isolated the people by forbidding all communication and be setting up spies to block the communication line between the Dega movement and its people. POLICY After completely occupying South Vietnam, the Communist Vietnamese authority put the Central Highlands under its domination in order to implement its plan. To be able to exterminate the Dega people and take possession of the Central Highlands, the Ha Noi authority has continued applying an aggressive and destructive policy towards the Dega people similar to the one the South Vietnamese had used before. It is inflexible and unwilling to grant any of the Dega people's aspirations: it also continues to maintain a destructive policy as follows: 1. The Ha Noi authority has established more Re- education centers than schools for the purpose of imprisoning compatriots educated Dega, religious leaders including students. The authority forced them to do exhausting work; some of them have been tortured to death. It does not grant any individual freedom to the Dega people in the Central Highlands. Besides, it also forces Dega young women to marry Vietnamese in order to assimilate our people. 2. The Ha Noi government has forbidden all political activities and forced Dega people to worship Ho Chi Minh only, and also it used an inhuman policy such as brain- washing some Dega for years. 3. It compelled Dega youngsters to live a debauched lives. It abolished all Dega traditions and customs and it is compelling young Dega women to accept an unethical life to please Vietnamese security men and soldiers. Consequently, agriculture centers are changing into entertainment centers. Parallel to these cases the Vietnamese authority has organized brigades to carry out secret assassinations in every hamlet and rice field. Some women walking out alone have been raped and killed by these troops. 4. In order to take over the Central Highland Dega, it brought five million North Vietnamese to settle them throughout the Central Highlands. Those Vietnamese have seized all fertile land and chased the Dega people away to rocky land and barren regions to isolate and more easily destroy the Dega. Besides, they have changes all the names of the hamlets, villages, routes, mountains, rivers, and lakes into Vietnamese and marked the map as their territory. Dega sovereignty was abolished and our compatriots were submitted to the Vietnamese policy against our will. LIVELIHOOD Anticipating that the Dega people would develop in the future, the North Vietnamese authority has cut off their living by the following measures: 1. It has confiscated all privately owned property, (automobiles, coffee, rubber, plantations, houses, cattle, etc.) .) This property now belongs to the government which used it as it desired. Some of their troops looked for people's radio cassettes, motorcycles, wrist-watches, and gold confiscating if for exchange at low prices. They not only confiscate private properties, but also excavate the Dega burial grounds to look for valuables such as gold, bronze gongs, antiques, jars and other precious stones. In cases where the Dega refused, the owners were put in jail and impeached as spies for foreigners (USA.) Our people were deprived and forbidden to own private rice fields. They remain impoverished. The authority obliged the Dega people to buy all their supplies in government cooperatives at high prices. Whoever stood up against the law was put in jail or killed. The Dega people no longer had their own trades. Everything belonged to the government. This enables the government to conceal its corruption. 2. The Ha Noi government forced the Dega to work in agriculture development centers in order to provide food for the Vietnamese invading neighborhood countries. They had to work very hard until exhausted. The majority died from starvation and disease caused by lack of food and medicine. For many of them their families were not even informed about their deaths. Another plan used in order to get enough food for the troops was for the Vietnamese authority to order people to reduce their daily rations. Working people received only 10 kilograms of rice and 10 kilograms of manioc. Disabled people, including children, could not even receive this amount. For these reasons, from 1975 to 1987, many children starved to death and the free world knew nothing about it. The Vietnamese authority also set up two soldiers in each house who compelled the people to feed them because of government insufficiency. 3. In order to take possession of the Dega people's fertile lands, the Ha Noi authority established agriculture centers around the Dega villages. These wicked settlers with very bad character treat our people badly: stealing, robbing from them. The Dega people cannot live among them. To this end, they have to move to another place they don't like. This was a legal maneuver to conceal the Vietnamese occupation of the Dega lands and to chase our people to rocky land. The Ha Noi authority has recruited and forced Dega youngsters to become workers overseas so that it could gain special funds to pay back the war debts for foreign countries, but those workers have not profited. EDUCATION The Ha Noi authority has obliged the Dega to use only the Vietnamese language so that it can govern and assimilate the Dega with ease. It uses an organized educational system with the following: 1. The Hanoi government confiscated all books in the Dega language and burned them for the purpose of burying them in forgetfulness, so they could claim that only Vietnamese people were living in Vietnam. They obliged the Dega people to study Vietnamese and prohibited them from learning their own dialects. Elementary schools in villages and hamlets are completely closed. The existing provincial secondary schools and colleges are only reserved for Vietnamese students. The government issued many obstacles and measures to weed out the Dega pupils. For example, school fees are very high and there is no boarding school for the Dega students. Also they live far from the city and do not have transportation to commute to the city to attend school. 2. The Vietnamese authorities urged the Dega youngsters to receive a backward and inadequate education, cutting off all knowledge from the outside world. They feared that the Dega people would become wise and discover Vietnamese deception. Therefore, their educational system was geared only to prepare people to be workers and soldiers. They concentrated on teaching the Dega children barbaric communist ideology. They tried to turn the parents against the legitimate resistance forces. They were taught to hate American, French and Chinese people accused as the murderers of their families and as the cause of suffering and death. HEALTH All dispensaries at the village level were abandoned, except in provinces and the capital. In the case of sickness the Dega people were not cared for the anyone. Sometimes they were mistreated or poisoned to death by secret means. The Dega medics and nurses, including doctors, were compelled by the authorities to cover up the enemy's weakness. If employed, they were only used to clean the hospital but were not allowed to treat wounded or sick people. Since then, thousands of victims have died because of ill treatment and the misuse of medicines from 1975-1987, Siu Hyum, wife of Paul Nur, former minister of Ethnic Ministry, died of dysentery in 1977 because Kom-Tum Provincial Hospital refused to provide serum to save her life. JUSTICE AND LAW The Ha Noi government did not apply the law to the Dega people, but only used an extermination policy. For that reason it had prepared many plans to control the people such as: 1. The Dega people's traditions and customs were radically abolished and the judiciary rights were cut off. The offenders had to be judged at the people's tribunals where judgement depended on the party. All documents in tribal law were confiscated and burnt. The Dega people were forced to adopt the Vietnamese one. The Vietnamese government put into concentration camps all the compatriots, including educated civil servants and students. They were imprisoned in Ha Noi, Ha Tinh, Nghe-An and many unknown places. Many prisoners went insane because of the perpetual mistreatment and hopelessness of their situation. They wait only for death as their salvation. Those who had received brainwashing drugs became crazy and useless, so they were allowed to return home in order to avoid adverse international opinion. But finally those miserable victims could not avoid death. Their names are listed below: 1. R'Com Dam-Ju, former deputy chief of Plei-Ku Province (now Gia Lai Kon-Tun Province.) 2. Y-Ham-Nie-Hrah, former Dega Pastor at Buon Ale A Church, Banmethuot, Daklak. Many prisoners were imprisoned for an unlimited time until their death. Their names are: 1. Paul-Nur, former Minister of Ethnic Minorities died in prison. 2. Nay-Luet, former Minister of Ethnic Minorities was killed in jail, Daklak Province, 1983. 3. Y-Lieo-Nie, Dega Pastor, Buon Puan, Daklak Province. His jailers tortured him by crushing his body, but allowed him to pray before they killed him. After the complete occupation of the Central Highlands, on May 24, 1975, Ha Noi authorities had killed many Dega officers, civilians, and innocent people, such as in Gia Lai Kon-Tum: 1. Ksor-Rot, former Senator, South Vietnam 2. Rmah-Crai, former Major, South Vietnam Army 3. Rmah-Wih, Captain, District Chief of Thuan-Man 4. Rmah-Jok, Major, Inspector of Daklak Sector 5. Ksor-De, Soldier from Plei-Klah, Ceo-Reo 6. Rmah-Kem, Soldier from Plei Amil, Ceo-Reo 7. Rmah-To, Plei-Tel, Ceo-Reo 8. R'Com Pioi, former Lt. Colonel, South Vietnam 9. R'Com-Ngeng, Soldier from Plei-Thai, Ceo-Reo 10. R'Com Mnai, Soldier from Bon Ma Djong, Deo-Reo 11. Nay-Phun, former Major, South Vietnam Army 12. Nay-Kueo, Major, South Vietnam Army 13. Nay-Than, Soldier from Plei-Kli, Plei-Ku 14. Ksor-Kuel, Soldier from Plei-Tel, Ceo-Reo 15. Ksor-Drok, Soldier from Buon Phu, Ceo-Reo 16. Ksor-Anhup, Soldier from Buon Phu, Ceo-Reo 17. Ksor-Djeng, Soldier from Plei-Dja, Ceo-Reo 18. Ksor Pok, Soldier from Plei Kte, Ceo-Reo 19. Ksor Tueo, Soldier from Plei-Amil, Ceo-Reo 20. Ksor Knhai, Soldier from Plei-Ksing, Ceo-Reo 21. Ksor Yol, Soldier from Plei Rung, Ceo-Reo 22. Ksor-Dun, Soldier from Plei Gok, Ceo-Reo 23. Ksor-Kuak, Soldier from Plei-Ksom, Ceo-Reo 24. Ksor-Buan, Soldier from Plei Chrung, Ceo-Reo 25. Ksor Bang, Plei-Tel, Ceo-Reo 26. Ksor-Kreh, Plei-Tel, Ceo-Reo 27. Ksor-Cho, Plei-Tel, Ceo-Reo 28. Ksor-Then, Plei-Tel, Ceo-Reo 29. Ksor-H'Pun, Plei-Tel, Ceo-Reo (burned alive in her house) 30. Ksor Tiong, Deputy District Chief, Phu-Thien, Ceo- Reo 31. Siu-Gaih, Soldier from Buon Ae Nu, Ceo-Reo 32. Siu Hong, Soldier from Plei Bonum, Ceo-Reo 33. Siu-Mrok, Soldier from Plei Akuil, Ceo-Reo 34. Siu Nhot, Student from Plei Klah, Ceo-Reo 35. Siu Pio, Soldier from Plei-Ae, Ceo-Reo 36. Siu-Ky, Soldier from Plei-Kte, Ceo-Reo 37. Siu Blol, Soldier from Plei Kual, Ceo-Reo 38. Siu-Wi, Soldier from Plei-Ksing, Ceo-Reo 39. Siu Hri, Soldier from Plei-Kanh, Ceo-Reo 40. Siu-Suon, Soldier from Bon Ae Hli, Ceo-Reo 41. Siu-Lit, Soldier from Bon Ma Djong, Ceo-Reo 42. Siu Tram, Police Officer from Plei Atang, Ceo-Reo 43. Siu-Tel, Plei-Ksing, Ceo-Reo 44. Siu-Uek, Plei-Tel, Ceo-Reo 45. Siu-Ju, Major of South Vietnam Army 46. Kpa-Bang, Major of South Vietnam Army, Ceo-Reo 47. Kpa-Suat, Soldier from Plei-Tel, Ceo-Reo 48. Rahlan-Chuot, Soldier from Plei-Kho, Ceo-Reo 49. Rmah-Yo, Soldier, Bon-Som, Ceo-Reo 50. Rahlan-Pok, Soldier from Plei-Tel, Ceo-Reo 51. Rahlan-Duon, Plei-Tel, Ceo-Reo 52. Rahlan-Duk, Soldier from Plei-Tel, Ceo-Reo 53. Y-Trong, Captain of South Vietnam Army Forces 54. Der, Police Officer from Hmong, Kontum. 55. Phin, Military Intelligence, Kontrang, Kon-Tum 56. Ksor-Hue, Soldier from Plei-Tel, Ceo-Reo 57. Ksor-Ju, Major, South Vietnam Forty more students, soldiers, and compatriots were executed by R'o-Ro, currently village chief. 58. Y-Buk-Kbuor, Public Worker of Banmethuot, Daklak, beaten to death and body thrown in Srepok River 59. Y-Mut-Hwing, Captain, Buon-Ho, Banmethuot, Daklak 60. H'Ru Nie-Sieng, Buon-Su, Buon-Ho, Daklak 61. Y-Net-Kbuor, Buon-Jok, Daklak 62. Y-Biot-Nie, Buon-Puan, Daklak 63. Y-Khauh-Ayun, Buon Puan, Daklak 64. Y-Kren-Ayun, Buon-Puan, Daklak 65. Y-Mang-Nie, Buon-Puan, Daklak 66. Y-Nie-Ayun, Buon-Puan, Daklak 67. Y-Khiet. Kbuor, Buon-Phe, Banmethuot, Daklak 68. Y-But-Buon Ya, Buon-Phe, Banmethuot, Daklak 69. Y-Blom-Buon Ya, Buon -Phe, Banmethuot, Daklak 70. Y-Dhia-Nie, Buon Phe, Banmethuot, Daklak Twenty Montagnards whose names we don't remember were detained at Newal jail because they were accused of being American CIA, were executed at a different unknown place in Banmethuot, Daklak. Five women from Bon Ma, Da Npao village, Da Mrong, were shot in a paddy field because they were accused of giving aid to the resistance. They were: Ksa-Phoi, Mbon K'Ngak, Ksa K'Hui, and K'Nhom. One woman was injured and is still living, K'Nguyen Ksa. Ha Hom and Ha Mang from Bon Mang Blar, Dakao village, Lam Dong, were beaten to death in the abandoned school of Dam Rong. There were many other unknown places where such barbarous acts had been committed, but the Ha Noi government always denied that such acts had been performed by its troops. Instead of ending all of these acts, Ha Noi urged its troops to continue their crimes. Therefore the Communist government completely controls the Central Highlands by force. The Dega are not free to do as they wish. Whatever they want to do, they have to go through government channels and administrative red tape. The Dega culture requires the sacrifice of animals to celebrate their traditional holidays and seasonal festivities. The Dega have a hard time getting permission for their customs and culture. Those who disobey the laws are severely punished or put in jail, tortured or have their money taken from them. MILITARY The Army is the main tool and most efficient means by which Ha Noi keeps its tight control over the Central Highland because Ha Noi realizes that the Dega people's revolution is growing in recent years. The revolution is a legitimate plight, a just cause which will reach a victory for the Dega. To prevent the Dega from reaching their ultimate goal, Ha Noi has outlined these strategies. 1. The Ha Noi government recruits all Dega youngsters and able men from the age of 15 to 45 (for men) and from 15 to 25 (for the women) to assume compulsory military training, to transport ammunition and supplies to different battlefields. 2. Ha Noi developed devastating mopping-up operations to sweep out and annihilate the Dega armed forces. Ha Noi troops killed, mutilated, committed wicked atrocities toward all captured revolutionaries by cutting off their limbs, extirpating their eyeballs, burying alive, and burning them alive. The following are victims: 1. Nay-Tuin, Lt. SVA from Plei Rongol, Ceo-Reo 2. R'mah-Ry, Sgt. Major 3. Y-Khai-Nie, Buon-Ho District, Daklak Province 4. Y-Soai-Nie, Daklak Province 5. K'siu R'yong Bo Siang, Dinh Vang Village, Tuyen-Duc 6. K'Jim Lieng Hot, Bon Nor A, Dat Village, La Duong, Tuyen-Duc, executed in 1980 7. K-Siu, a nurse of Project Concern, from Royong Boliang, Dinh Vang, Duc Trong, Tuyen Duc, buried alive in 1975 8. Y-Lum-Nie from Buon Hang Daklak, executed for being a hamlet chief 9. Y-Kruot-Nie, from Buon Mblot, Daklak, for being a hamlet chief 10. Ut (Ama Bluai) from Buon Erang, Daklak, for being village chief 11. Siang-Nie from Buon Blang and nineteen people were executed at Ea Tul Daklak in 1975. The whole hamlet was burned to ashes. 3. Ha Noi organized special units to watch, control, prevent, and cut any supplies to the FLHPM in the jungles. The Dega families withe the resistance are under tight surveillance and are compelled to pay the authorities cash, cattle, or other valuables each time a skirmish occurs between the revolutionary forces and Ha Noi troops. They are also subject to arbitrary arrests, torture and the death penalty. The victims are: 1. H'Dim-Hwing, 23 year old from Buon Poc, Ea Poc Village, Cu Mgar District, Daklak Province. 2. Y-Buk-Kbuor, from Banmethuot, Daklak public works was put in jail, beaten and mutilated to death with an iron bar. The Vietnamese threw the corpse in Sre Pok River. He was accused of working for the French and South Vietnam regimes, and being a Dega revolutionist. 3. K'Ang Cil Mup and mother K'Glang Cil Mup were put in jail in Nha Klong area in Bao-Loc District, Lam Dong an exile site and concentration camp to brainwash more than 5,000 revolutionaries' families from Bonong Rir, Rolom, Da Nung, Da Be Pao, Dame, Lac Duong District, Lam Dong. 4. The authorities intimidate the families of the revolutionaries, compel their wives to marry Vietnamese soldiers to weaken the morale of the revolutionaries. The authority terrorizes the families of the revolutionaries by asking immediate family members to search for, to appeal to, and to urge those who are in the jungle to surrender. This is a devious maneuver. Once surrendered, the revolutionaries are subject to torture or are condemned to death. Some native revolutionaries, victims of this trick, were shot at Plei-Ku Stadium in June, 1982. Thousands of the Dega are still suffering in jail, having been falsely accused of being connected to French or American political activity. The Vietnamese are building up their strategic bases all over the Highlands to control and exterminate the Dega people. They are bringing more than 5 million Vietnamese into the Central Highlands to resettle permanently, taking over the fertile farming lands and wiping out the Dega culture, the ecosystem, and the vital resources of the tropical rain forest to pursue their goal. From 1962 - 1977, 42,000 Dega people living in the area of Duc-Co, Thanh An District, Plei-Ku Province, were kidnapped by the Khmer-Rouge. The force of Khmer-Rouge disguised themselves into Special Forces outfits and came into the area by helicopters captured from the Lonnol government. They presented themselves as representatives of Y-Bham-Enuol, an internationally well-known leader of the Dega who lived in exile in Cambodia from 1964-1975. The Dega living in Duc-Co area naively believed that the order was given from Mr. Y-Bham-Enuol. Unfortunately, once reaching Cambodia, they discovered that they had been tricked by the Khmer-Rouge, becoming their forces and labor detainees. They compelled the women to marry Khmer-Rouge soldiers, and wanted the Dega men to marry Khmer-Rouge women, regardless of the Dega's marriage status. Also speaking the Dega language was prohibited. CONCLUSION This is a synopsis of the different policies that the Dega people have endured and continue to endure. The consequences of these policies are that the Dega people's human rights have been flagrantly violated. The French colonization was the prime access that facilitated the annexation of the Dega territory to the Annam Kingdom. The French opened the way for the westward drive of the Vietnamese into the hinterland to dominate and destroy the Dega people. The French began to destroy Dega ecosystems with the opening of the roads crisscrossing the Dega territory. This was the first step toward destroying the rainforest by the development of rubber, tea and coffee plantations using free Dega labor. The Dega people acclaim the autonomous statute, but the Dega people deplore the way it was implemented with the intention of favoring the Vietnamese invaders to give Bao-Dai a throne, to protect French interests rather than to consolidate the autonomous system for the betterment of the Dega people. AS an autonomous state, we should have had a representative at the Geneva Convention for Dega self determination. But the French did not allow us to do so. To safeguard human rights, the Dega sacrificed many lives in different uprisings for survival. Montagnard Dega lives have been sacrificed since the French Indochina War (1945-1954.) The French Indochina federal government recruited 13 battalions of Dega men to fight for Bao-Dai and French troops. The blood of the Dega was intended to secure territory. To preserve freedom, and to consolidate the autonomous system, we appeal to the French people and government to consider our sacrifices and our services and stand on the side of the Dega people to restore the Dega's human rights and continue to recognize the autonomy that had been granted on May 27, 1946. The American-supported Vietnamese policies reflect concrete positive outcomes in socioeconomic and educational development, but just like the French, the policy was intended to expand and consolidate the Vietnamese domination and leadership over the Dega territory. The strategic hamlets defense system was devastating to the Dega cultural preservation, pride, property, and freedom. The Dega were the victims caught in the middle, harassed, abused, and destroyed by the Northern Communists as well as the Southern authorities. Both sides wanted to reach the same goal; to destroy the Dega and acquire territory. During the American involvement, thousands and thousands of Dega men performed their duty and fought with courage, bravery, and fidelity, side by side with the American soldiers, CIDG, Mike Forces and Special Forces, with understanding that the Americans would help us to regain our autonomous state, peace and freedom of the Dega people. However, after the French and the American withdrawal of Indochina, both are untrustworthy in their commitment, forget the Dega people and bury their plight in the past. Even previous Dega sacrifices were ignored. Instead of interest and support, our Dega people only received in return misery, suffering and contempt. During the Vietnam War, the Dega people became the experimental tools for modern weapons of the great nations. The Vietnamese, both South and North governments, used the Dega land as battlefields where big battles took place, where thousands and thousands of Dega people were either killed, relocated away from ancestral land or ended up in jail for being supporters of the South or the North. This was a well planned, logical method to exterminate the Dega people and grab the land. The actions of the Vietnamese government are direct violations of the December 10, 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights by the General Assembly of the United Nations. From 1945 - 1973 a million Dega people died and 85% of villagers were forced to move and to flee as refugees. They fought and died for French, Vietnamese and American interests. When the Vietnam War was ended, peace did not return to the Dega people. The autonomy was never granted and thousands of Dega leaders were killed and jailed by the Vietnamese Communists. During 1975 - 1982 an estimated 60,000 Dega were killed. Along with the westward drive of Vietnamese domination, the Dega people are striving to prevent final extermination from the Khmer and Cham resistances which are using the name FULRO to abuse our people. The Khmer-Rouge has been using Mr. Y-Bham-Enuol's rebellion to gain support from the Dega people. The Cham has been using the FULRO name for the same goal. We appeal to the American people and the American government to acknowledge the pledge, to take into account the Dega sacrifices, and to stand firm to defend the Dega goal to restore Dega human rights and autonomy. The Dega people implore the American people and government to take account of the Montagnard Dega plight before granting economic aid to Vietnam, which will further empower them to exterminate the Dega people in the Central Highlands. In order to safeguard the survival of the Dega people, we the members of the Dega International Human Rights Committee of the Dega Republic, implore Amnesty International, the Untied Nations organization, and all peace-loving countries which respect Human Rights all over the world, to take into consideration compliance with the principles promulgated by the United Nations organization charter against the Vietnamese effort to destroy the Dega people in the Central Highlands. The Dega people owe deep gratitude to Amnesty International and the United Nations organization for your benevolent help. [signed] Ksor-Kok Pierre Mary Kbriuh Nay-Rong President Vice President Secretary Y-Ngong Knul Sre-Sang Dim Ksa-Thaniel Y-Samy Ayun Y-Bhi Kbuor Bhuat Eban Y-Yok Ayun Y-Blim Adrong Y-Siu Hlong Y-Tlur Eban Rmah-Dok Y-Juen Eban Philip-Daoh ******************** ORDINANCES OF THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT FEDERAL ORDINANCE OF 27 MAY 1946 CREATING A FEDERAL GOVERNMENT COMMISSARIAT FOR THE MONTAGNARD POPULATIONS OF SOUTH INDOCHINA.1 The High Commissioner of France for Indochina, Chancellor of the Order of Liberation, Grand Officer of the Legion of Honor, Pursuant to the decree of August 17, 1945, creating the office of the High Commissioner of France for Indochina and defining the powers thereof; Pursuant to the decree of August 17, 1945, on the nomination of the High Commissioner of France for Indochina; Pursuant to the decree of October 20, 1911, defining the powers of the Governor-General of Indochina; Pursuant to the Federal ordinance of November 1, 1945, determining the provisional conditions for the exercise of legislative and regulatory power in the Indochinese Federation. The Council of the Federal Government being in agreement, ORDERS: ARTICLE 1. The provinces of Darlac, Haut-Donnai, Lang-Bian, Pleiku and Kontum form a special administrative division which will bear the title "Commissariat of the Federal Government for the Montagnard Populations of South Indochina", and cease to be under the jurisdiction of the Commissariat of the Republic for South Annam. ARTICLE 2. Nevertheless, and on a provisional basis, due to the necessity for liaison between the civil and military commands, the provinces of Haut-Donnai and Lang-Bian will continue to be the responsibility of the Commissariat of the Republic for South Annam until such date as is determined by a decree of the High Commissioner. ARTICLE 3. The Commissioner of the Federal Government for the Montagnard Populations of South Indochina is directly dependent of the High Commissioner of France for Indochina and is appointed by him. His powers are, within the scope of the provinces specified in Article 1, identical to those of Commissioners of the Republic in their respective jurisdictions. ARTICLE 4. The seat of the Commissariat of the Federal Government for the Montagnard Populations of South Indochina is established at Ban Me Thuot. ARTICLE 5. This ordinance shall be published in the Official Journal of the Indochinese Federation. Done at Saigon, on May 27, 1946. Signed: G. d'ARGENLIEU ******************** No. 16/QT/TD WE, HIS MAJESTY BAO-DAI CHIEF OF STATE Pursuant to Decree No. 1 of July 1, 1949 establishing the organization and functioning of the public institutions; Pursuant to Decree No. 2 of July 1, 1949 organizing the statute of the public administrations; Pursuant to Decree No. 6 of April 15, 1950 returning our person the provinces and territories inhabited by the non-Vietnamese populations traditionally dependent upon the Crown; Pursuant to Decree No. 33/QT of April 15, 1950 regarding personnel serving in the provinces and territories directly attached to our person; Pursuant to Decree No. 3/QT/TD of July 25, 1950 creating a special administrative division name Delegation of His Majesty for the Royal Domains P. M. G. Pursuant to the agreements of March 8, 1949, and in conformity with the rights of man as defined in the charter of the United Nations; Pursuant to the oaths of allegiance sworn to our person on May 31, 1946 in Ban Me Thout by the representatives of the populations of the Montagnard Regions of the South; Pursuant to the wishes expressed by the representatives of the Montagnard populations on May 26, 1950 in Kontum, on June 5, 1950 in Pleiku, on June 10, 1950 in Darlac, on June 26, 1950 in Haut-Donnai: ORDER: ARTICLE 1.: The non-Vietnamese populations living on the territories called "Montagnard Regions of the South" receive, by this present ordinance, a special statute intended to guarantee at the same time the eminent rights of Vietnam and the free evolution of these populations in the respect of their traditions and of their customs. This statute is defined by the following arrangements: ARTICLE 2.: The territories of the P.M.S., which have always been dependent traditionally on the Crown of Annam, are and will remain attached directly to our person. ARTICLE 3.: The political, administrative and judicial evolution of the P.M.S. will be conducted in such a manner as to lead, as far as possible, towards a greater participation by the Montagnards in the management of the affairs of the P.M.S. ARTICLE 4.: The natural chiefs, hereditary or selected by the native populations --- councilor of district, of province, representatives of the various assemblies and customary tribunals, chiefs of sectors; of canton, of townships --- are retained with their titles and prerogatives as well as in the exercise of their powers. ARTICLE 5.: An economic council composed of the most qualified representatives of the agricultural, industrial and commercial interests of the P.M.S. will be instituted to provide its opinions regarding matters of concern to those interests. ARTICLE 6.: The administration of justice will continue to be assured, in matters of litigation where only Montagnards are involved, by the existing customary tribunals or those to be created. These tribunals will continue to apply the customs particular to each ethnic group concerned. Besides an adaptation of Vietnamese legislation, of French legislation and of particular customs will be sought in view of their application in litigations where Montagnards are involved, either with Vietnamese or with Frenchmen, or with other nationals of the French Union or with strangers. For this purpose, there will be created a Mixed Study Commission charged with: 1) - establishing a judicial organization project for the High Plateaux; 2) - pursuing the definition and codification of customs, taking into account their evolution, jurisprudence, and the necessities of the present. This Commission may have recourse to experts and must, within six months, submit the results of their labors to our scrutiny. A judicial ordinance will thereafter be promulgated which will determine competent jurisdictions and the legislation applicable in those cases foreseen in the second paragraph of this present article. Until such time as this ordinance is promulgated, the status quo, in these matters, will be maintained. ARTICLE 7.: The rights acquired by the natives over landed property are guaranteed them in entirety. In order that these rights be respected, sales, rentals, acquisitions and in general all acts involving land rights will receive the approval of the administrative authority, after notification to the native leaders and all consultations in conformity with tradition. ARTICLE 8.: In order to improve the physical and intellectual conditions of the populations of the P.M.S., medical aid and education will be the objects of development plans as extensive as financial possibilities permit. The medical assistance plan will be established in harmony with that which the world health organization could have foreseen for the P.M.S. The teaching of dialects will be maintained to the full measure to which it is deemed necessary, and will continue to constitute the basis of primary education for the natives. The teaching of the Vietnamese language and of the French language will be conducted according to the conditions specified under the regulations particular to the P.M.S. concerning the transfer of responsibilities in the matter of education. The training of native cadres, especially for military, administrative, medical and scholastic needs, will be the object of a special effort. ARTICLE 9.: Obligatory military duties will not be any heavier for the P.M.S than they are for other parts of the State of Vietnam. Save for those cases foreseen in existing conventions, the Montagnards will not be called upon to serve in military units stationed outside the P.M.S., and will be assigned with priority to the defense of their own territory. ARTICLE 10.: The Directeur du Cabinet of His Majesty and the Delegate of His Majesty for the P.M.S. are charged with the execution of this ordinance, each according to that which concerns him. 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