1566 Huntoon Street
Oroville, CA 95965
United States of America
October 24, 2005
Ministry of Foreign Affairs
C/O Minister H.E. Mr. Somsavat Lengsavad
Thatluang Road
Ban Phonxay
Laos
Dear Honorable Foreign Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Somsavath Lengsavat;
On behalf of the free world, the Fact Finding Commission would like to
take a moment of your time to hear our response concerning the situation
in Laos. Our mission is to bring THE TRUTH inside Laos to the outside
world. That is exactly what we have been doing. On an interview broadcast
through the Voices of America on October 14, 2005 by VOA correspondent,
Songrit PhonNgern, you challenged the correspondent to tell you who were
the ones who wrote the reports regarding the ongoing genocide inside Laos
and witnessed the truth inside Laos. Unfortunately, your question was not
addressed to the right person. Therefore, today FFC is going to answer
that question for you.
The reports on the ongoing genocide and war crime conducted by the
combined military forces of the Lao PDR and Vietnamese soldiers against
the so called “non-existent” veterans of the U.S. Secret Army and their
families in the jungles of Laos were done by the Fact Finding Commission
along with Time Magazine, British Broadcasting Corporation, Sunday Times
in London, Associated Press, ABC Australia, San Francisco Chronicle and
other news agencies. Due to the fact that some members of the FFC are of
Laotian descent, our reports may be viewed by certain individuals, such as
yourself, as bias information. Therefore, for your information, we’ve
coordinated various independent news agencies to validate our reports,
testify in Washington D.C. in front members of Congress, in New York with
the UN officials, and in Paris with European leaders.
The world now knows the hidden truth and secrets that your government has
been hiding for more than three decades. You oppress, persecute, chase,
hunt the United States Secret War veterans and their families into the
jungles and kill them. You lie to the international community that no
such innocent people exist in the jungles. However, you know as we do that
these people have become displaced people within their own country due to
the ongoing genocide and war crime conducted by the Lao PDR government,
like yourself who intentionally want to “exterminate these people to the
root”.
You also challenged VOA correspondent Songrit PhonNgern regarding those
who are personal eyewitnesses to such tragedies, thus being qualified to
file such reports. We encourage you to read the reports published in the
Time Asia Magazine on May 5, 2003, the Le Monde2 in June 2003 in France,
the Phnom Penh Post on October 10-23, 2003 in Cambodia, the Sunday Times
magazine on December 10, 2003 in London.
In addition, we encourage you to talk to each individual journalist that
were eye witnesses in the situation and living conditions of the people
who are still hiding in the jungles. We believe those reports and
feedback from the journalists are unbiased. The journalists’ job is to
reveal the truth inside Laos to the free world, so it will no longer be a
secret. Therefore, now the hidden truth and secrets that you have covered
up are no longer secret. To answer your questions about the truth, here
are the chronological activities Fact Finding Commission help to coordinate.
On January 11, 2003, Time Magazine correspondent Andrew Perrin and
photographer Philip Blenkinsop entered Laos. January 12, 2003 they
trekked through the heavily patrolled jungles of the Xaysomboune Special
Zone to meet with Moua Toua Ter and Thong Vanh, the leaders of 800
people. The two correspondents left the jungles on January 18, 2003 and
exited Laos on January 22, 2003.
On May 24, 2003, Freelance journalists Thierry Falise and Vincent Renaud
entered Laos. We know that you are well familiar with these two
journalists. They entered the dangerous jungles of the Xaysomboune
Special Zone on May 25, 2003 and met with Moua Toua Ter, Thong Vanh and
their people in the deep jungles. After spending only a short time in the
jungle they were eager to get their story out to the public; therefore,
they left the jungles and upon reaching the edge of the village on June 4,
2003, the two journalists were arrested by your men. Their evidence
consisting of photographs and videos regarding the US Secret War Veterans
and their families were confiscated by your government.
On March 12, 2004, two correspondents from the British Broadcasting
Corporation (BBC), Ruhi Hamid and Misha Maltsev entered Laos and trekked
through the heavily guarded jungles of Laos to meet with Wa Leng Lee,
Sinnoon Xaosinxay and 250 people in the Bolikhamxay Province. The two
journalists came out of the jungles and exited Laos on March 26,
2004. Their documentary One Day of War – Frontline: Laos was well
publicized in the United Kingdom and worldwide.
On April 11, 2004, Freelance Jouranlist Nelson Rand entered Laos and
trekked through the dangerous jungles of the Xaysomboune Special Zone to
meet with two of the leaders, Moua Toua Ter, Yang Toua Thao, Thong Vanh
and about two thousand people with them. Mr. Rand spent three weeks with
the people who have are displaced in the Xaysomboune Special Zone before
he trekked out of the jungles and safely returned to Thailand on May 2,
2004. The five Hmong children killed on May 19, 2004 by Battalion 28
stationed at San Dae are well known to Mr. Rand during his visit to this group.
On January 27, 2005, French Journalist Gregoire Denaiv and Guillaume Leger
entered Laos and trekked through the heavily patrolled jungles of the
Xaysomboune Special Zone to meet with Moua Toua Ter, Thong Vanh and their
people. The two journalist exited Laos on February 6, 2005. Their video
documentary was well publicized throughout France, Envoye Special, in
France and throughout the world.
On June 3, 2005, FFC – Commission Members Ed and Georgie Szendrey entered
Laos to help facilitate the surrender of the 173 women, children and
elderly to your officials in the village of Chong Thuang. They met with
the people from the jungles in the morning of June 4, 2005 and turned the
people over to your hands. On their way to Vientiane, the Commission
Members along with their associate Nhia Zang Yang and their driver Sia
Cher Vang were detained by your authorities for nearly three days and
interrogated in Vientiane. These four individuals were released as
“trouble makers” by your country but were not charged of anything nor did
they violate any Lao PDR’s law. Their cameras and the satellite phone,
worth more than $3,000 USD, were confiscated by your government and have
not been returned to Fact Finding Commission. Your personal
representative, Yong Chanhthalansy was present during their detention and
participated in the interrogation of the Szendrey’s.
With these confirmations, you indicated that Vang Pao is “sleeping and
dead in America”. General Vang Pao may physically live in America,
however he continues to be deeply concerned with the welfare of the U.S.
Secret War veterans and their families hiding in the jungles of Laos.
Surprisingly, we find you are a government official of Laos and yet you
continue to claim such ignorance of the existence of the Secret War
Veterans and their families? Your government for nearly thirty years has
secretly murdered the veterans of the U.S. Secret Army, and to this day
you still deny their existence, despite the independent validation by
major news agencies around the world.
In closing, we are asking you to open the door and allow the Fact Finding
Commission or another independent fact-finding team along with
international journalists and the international community to come into
Laos to investigate our reports. We ask that you allow full access to all
the remote areas of Laos; especially the following provinces: Xaysomboune
Special Zone, Xieng Khouang, Bolikhamxay, Huouan Phan, Vientiane, Luang
Prabang, Xaingabouri, Bokeo, Savannakhet, Saravan, Champasak, Attapu, and
Xekong where the veterans of the U.S. Secret Army and their families are
hiding.
You asked for the documentation proving the allegation made against the
Lao government. The above is proof of those allegations. You are now told
of the perpetual genocide and human rights violations conducted by your
own military forces and the Vietnamese military forces against those who
fought for the United States government on behalf of the American people
during the Vietnam War in Laos. You have this in writing. Now as a leader
in Laos, what will you say to your people and to the world, so they will
again trust you and your government?
Our recommendations, which we believe will help resolve the critical
issues at hand;
- Immediately stop the killing, chasing, and the hunting of the
displaced United States Secret War veterans and their families who are
still hiding in the jungles due to political oppression and persecution;
- The withdrawal of all foreign troops and military personnel, such as
the Vietnamese from Laos;
- You must immediately allow United Nations, NGOs, and Human Rights
organizations to intervene and provide humanitarian aid to these
displaced US Secret War veterans and their families in the jungles;
- You must immediately allow the United States Congress to bring in an
independent delegation team to further investigate the current situations
and conditions of the displaced US Secret War veterans and their families
hiding in the jungles;
- You must continue allowing safe passage for your displaced people in
the jungles to surrender and allow UN to get involved in their
resettlement and provide humanitarian aid to them;
- You must continue allowing these displaced individuals to fully
assimilate into the mainstream Lao society;
- You must continue allowing them to have full access to all available
resources and support systems within the country of Laos and neighboring
countries; and
- You must hold your military commanders accountable for all wrongful
actions taken by them against the displaced US Secret War veterans and
their families.
Furthermore, because of the presence of Vietnamese military forces in
Laos, just in case you have forgotten about the Paris Agreement signed in
1973 before the LPDR government was formed in Laos, we inserted Chapter
VII of the Paris Agreement regarding Cambodia and Laos for your
review. We hope that you will find this chapter of the Paris Agreement
helpful to you in reaching a critical decision you are about to make to
resolve the perpetual genocide and human rights violations against the
displaced US Secret War veterans and their families hiding in the jungles.
