Hanoi closes Highlands churches
The Vietnamese government has been accused of
mounting a fresh crackdown this year against Protestant
churches in the country's troubled Central Highlands
region. By the end of September, 354 of 412 churches
had been forcibly disbanded in Dak Lak province alone
and 50 pastors and church elders had been arrested or
"disappeared," according to a November 13 report by
Compass Direct, a United States-based Christian news
service that reports on the persecution of Christians.
Quoting foreign human-rights workers and
correspondence from Vietnam, the report said that
local officials summoned pastors of the minority Ede
community about four months ago and told them that
their churches were illegal and ordered them to disband
their congregations. Several thousand people from
ethnic minority groups in Dak Lak and other Central
Highlands provinces held mass protests in February
2001 against the loss of land to lowland settlers and the
lack of religious freedom. A subsequent police
crackdown prompted hundreds of them to flee to
Cambodia, though most have since been repatriated.
John Hanford, U.S. ambassador at large for religious
freedom, raised concerns about the crackdown during
talks with a Vietnamese government delegation in
Washington in early November, according to a U.S.
official.
The Far Eastern Economic Review - November 28, 2002.
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