Vietnam blames highland protests on old insurgent group
HANOI - Vietnam's Communist Party newspaper Monday accused exiled leaders of a dormant ethnic insurgent group of
inciting mass protests in the central highlands earlier this month.
The daily Nhan Dan claimed that overseas leaders of the United Front for the Liberation of Oppressed Races - usually known
by its French acronym FULRO - "nurtured reactionary forces who sneaked into the central highlands to incite and coerce
people."
Vietnam's state-controlled media had so far been largely silent about the civil unrest that swept the coffee-growing highlands in
early February.
Thousands of ethnic minority people surrounded government buildings in Pleiku and Buon Ma Thuot, the capitals of the
provinces of Gia Lai and Daklak, to protest over land grievances and what they said was religious repression.
Soldiers and riot police, who remain on alert, were called in to quell the protests, which were occasionally violent.
Monday's report in Nhan Dan report was the first in which Hanoi publicly blamed FULRO, which was formed by ethnic
minority mountain people in Vietnam in 1964 to fight for the right to continue living on their ancestral lands and maintain their
traditional lifestyles. They later became embroiled in the U.S. battle against Communist forces during the 1960s and 1970s.
Nhan Dan said that the government had been successful in "completely removing" armed FULRO members in 1983.
However, it said, the recent troubles were orchestrated by FULRO leaders living overseas "who directed reactionary elements
... to go to the villages to distort propaganda and incite" people.
The Associated Press - February 26, 2001.
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