Vietnam to suspend government-sponsored migration to restive Central Highlands
Vietnam will suspend government-sponsored resettlement in the Central Highlands following massive uprisings by ethnic minority groups protesting the confiscation of their ancestral lands, state-controlled media reported Friday.
Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung said the government will temporarily stop sending people to resettle in new economic zones in the Central Highlands, and will work to slow free migrations to the area rich in coffee plantations, the Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper said.
The Central Highlands _ mostly populated by ethnic minorities who are collectively called Montagnards _ has witnessed a mass migration of lowland Vietnamese to the area since the end of the Vietnam War in 1975.
Thousands of Montagnards, many of them Christians, took to the streets in Daklak and Gia Lai provinces over Easter weekend to protest government restrictions on their Protestant faith and land rights.
International rights groups allege at least 10 protesters were killed in clashes with police, but Hanoi said only two died after being pelted with rocks from other demonstrators.
In February 2001, tens of thousands of Montagnards held similar protests. About 1,000 were resettled in the United States after fleeing to Cambodia.
At the two-day meeting in the Central Highlands resort town of Dalat, the deputy prime minister also instructed provincial government leaders to help provide the Montagnards with farm land and housing along with job training, the newspaper said.
The Associated Press - August 20, 2004.
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