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Photo: RFA
Lao government troops have launched a new campaign of attacks against groups of ethnic Hmong living in forests near Phou Bia Mountain in an effort to remove them from areas targeted for development and foreign investment schemes, rights group and Hmong sources say.
The new push against the Hmong who fought under U.S. advisors against communist forces during the Vietnam War follows the March 14 publication of an order by authorities in Xaysomboun province barring access by civilians to the forests near Phou Bia, the highest mountain in Laos, an international NGO said at the weekend.
Hmong civilians living in the area are now reporting an increase in violence at the hands of government troops, an official of the Brussels-based Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization (UNPO) told RFA in an email on March 28.