Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Hanoi (Fides Service) - A group of thirteen Vietnamese Montagnards, including a mother and her five year old son, recently returned Vietnam thanks to an agreement signed in January by the UN High Commission for Refugees with the governments of Cambodia and Vietnam. This is the second group of refugee Montagnards repatriated thanks to the agreement which envisages the return home of about 750 people who fled from Vietnam to Cambodia convinced that UNHCR could help them to solve disputes over property in their highland villages in central Vietnam. Last week nine were repatriated. This second group of 13 people accompanied by representatives of UNHCR and Cambodia, left a centre for refugees in Phnom Penh, and crossed the border to meet Vietnamese authorities.
With the agreement signed in January the government of Vietnam promised that the refugees will not be subjected to violence or juridical proceedings. About half the Montagnards in Cambodia opted to settle in other countries, including the United States, Finland and Canada. Another 20 are waiting to be repatriated to Vietnam. Cambodia has said it does not intend to allow Montagnards to stay in Cambodia.
The Montagnards live in the high lands of central Vietnam. They are unpopular with the Vietnamese government because during the Vietnam War they supported the United States. Most of them are Christians.
(PA) (Agenzia Fides 21/3/2005 righe 23 parole 245)
