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Vietnamese Buddhist dissident released AFP - Saturday June 28, 11:09 AM

Photo: AFP - Vietnamese Buddhist dissident released

HANOI (AFP) - Vietnam has lifted the house arrest order against the country's most famous Buddhist dissident Thich Quang Do two months earlier than scheduled, according to state media.

In a brief two paragraph statement, the Vietnam News Agency (VNA) said the Phu Nhuan district People's Court announced its decision on Friday to exempt Do from his administrative detention in Ho Chi Minh City.

"The decision was made on the Vietnamese Communist Party and state's policy for great national unity and humanitarian policy," VNA said late Friday.

It was not clear if the 75-year-old deputy head of the Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam (UBCV) was immediately free to leave the city's Thanh Minh Zen monastery where he has been held in isolation for over two years.

Do was sentenced to five years imprisonment in August 1995 for organizing a relief mission for flood victims in the southern Mekong Delta. He was released in a presidential amnesty on September 2, 1998.

However, authorities in Ho Chi Minh City reactivated two years of his sentence, placing him under house arrest on June 1, 2001, after he issued an "Appeal for Democracy in Vietnam".

There had been confusion over when his house arrest would be lifted.

Human rights groups and Do himself initially believed it would expire on June 1 this year, however the government on June 6 announced his release date was September 3.

Wary of the UBCV's popular support in a country where at least 70 percent of the population are Buddhists, the ruling Communist Party banned it in 1981 and created the Vietnamese Buddhist Church in its place.

Subsequently, Do and the patriarch of the UBCV, Thich Huyen Quang, were arrested in February 1982 and banished into internal exile.

Quang, now 86, has been kept under effective house arrest without charge or trial in the central province of Quang Ngai ever since, with his movements severely restricted.

However, in March, after weeks of refusals, Quang was allowed permission to travel to Hanoi for medical treatment. The government also orchestrated a highly publicised meeting between him and Prime Minister Phan Van Khai on April 2.

Diplomats, however, dismissed the move as a public relations stunt to win over Vietnam's human rights critics rather than the start of a new era of religious tolerance.

Vietnam released a prominent Buddhist dissident from house arrest a week after it came under heavy international criticism for jailing a pro-democracy advocate.

Thich Quang Do, nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 2001, is the second highest-ranking leader of the banned Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam. He was freed after two years of house arrest at Thanh Minh Zen Monastery on Friday, the Communist Party newspaper People reported.

The decision to grant early release to Do, 74, who has been under house arrest since 2001, was made because of "the Party and State's humanitarian policies," the newspaper said.

Do had been put on two-year probation at his pagoda in June 2001 after announcing plans to escort the patriarch of the church, Thich Huyen Quang, to Ho Chi Minh City for medical treatment. He was scheduled to be released in September.

It wasn't clear if the move was tied to the intense criticism from abroad after a 35-year-old political dissident, Pham Hong Son, was sentenced to 13 years in jail for translating and distributing pro-democracy materials over the Internet.

Human rights groups had denounced the sentence, saying it was an example of Hanoi's consistent abuse of political and religious freedoms. The government maintains it only punishes those who break the law.

On Saturday, human rights advocates said they were hopeful that Do's release signaled a positive change in Vietnam's policies.

"I hope it's not just one move just to silence the international community, but I hope it's a genuine step," said Magda Kowalczuk, a spokeswoman for London-based Amnesty International. "It's a very positive sign, especially after last week's horrible sentencing of 13 years in prison."

Vo Van Ai, head of the Paris-based International Buddhist Information Bureau, praised the lifting of Do's detention order but cautioned that "it is too early to say that he is free."

Ai said Do planned to continued his peaceful advocacy of religious freedom and human rights in Vietnam.

Vietnamese officials were unavailable for comment Saturday.

Carlyle Thayer, an expert on Vietnam from the Australian Defense Force Academy, said Do's release was an attempt by the government to deflect external criticism while continuing a trend of increased leniency toward religious dissidents

He said religious leaders are not as threatening as political dissidents because they are mostly concerned with freedom of worship and not challenging the government or undermining the ruling Communist Party.

"The larger theme is there," Thayer said. "Thich Quang Do is tactical. They lose nothing, they gain some."

In April, Hanoi received international praise after Prime Minister Phan Van Khai held a historic meeting with Quang, 86, of the Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam, who has been under house arrest in his remote pagoda in central Vietnam.

The Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam was outlawed after the installation of the state-sanctioned Buddhist Church of Vietnam in 1981. Quang and Do have spent more than 20 years in jail or under house arrest.

A Western diplomat in Hanoi said Vietnam is being forced to realize that its poor human rights record can have consequences.

A group of National Assembly representatives who visited the United States recently "heard loud and clear the displeasure over recent developments," the diplomat said on condition of anonymity.

The U.S. Congress is now considering a bill that would tie non-humanitarian aid to Vietnam to its progress on human rights.

HANOI (Reuters) - Vietnam has freed one of its most prominent dissidents two months before the Buddhist monk's two-year detention was due to end.

Vietnam News daily reported on Saturday that a court in southern Ho Chi Minh City ordered Thich Quang Do, 74, to be freed from house arrest.

Do is deputy leader of the banned Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam and the court's release order on Friday is seen as a possible concession to the group by the communist government.

A man answering the telephone at the pagoda where Do has been held confirmed he has been freed. Do was not immediately available for comment.

He was put under house arrest in June 2001 after lobbying for democratic change. The detention was due to end in September 2003 but Hanoi had indicated it might lift the sentence for good behaviour.

The newspaper report said the early release was based on "the (communist) Party and State's humanitarian policies that upheld great national unity".

The early release comes after a historic meeting in April between the patriarch of the Buddhist group, Thich Huyen Quang, 86, and Prime Minister Phan Van Khai. Quang was also permitted to receive visits from American and European Union envoys.

Quang has been under effective house arrest since 1982 but has been allowed to travel, including a trip to Hanoi earlier this year for surgery.

But Do had been off limits, and an EU delegation was denied permission to see him last September.

Hanoi insists the followers of the Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam come under a state-sanctioned Buddhist church.

Diplomats in Hanoi who have been tracking the case closely expressed surprise.

"No one in the diplomatic community knew this was coming up," said an envoy from an Asian country.

A Western diplomat said, "It's welcome but regrettable he was under this arbitrary detention order."

He added, "This may be part of an effort to regain some good publicity after Pham Hong Son," referring to the 13-year prison sentence handed out on June 18 to a Vietnamese doctor accused of publishing anti-government texts on the Internet.

State-controlled media briefly reported Do's release, with the Communist Party's mouthpiece Nhan Dan (People) daily saying court officials went to Do's pagoda on Friday to hand him the decision.

Vietnam insists its citizens enjoy freedom of religion. It allows six approved religions to operate with all others deemed illegal and subject to punishment.

BANGKOK - Two deadly bus attacks; remnants of a CIA-backed army fighting in the jungles; claims of two divisions of a neighboring army entering the country - all with the same dateline: Laos. The reports keep trickling in.

On February 6, a roadside ambush on a bus kills 10, including two Swiss tourists. On April 20, another bus attack leaves at least 13 dead and dozens injured. Days later, the Laotian army chief of staff visits Hanoi to meet his Vietnamese counterpart. About a week later, Time Asia magazine publishes a report of ethnic Hmong rebels on the run in the jungles of northern Laos still fighting a war that was supposed to have ended in 1975. And on Wednesday, a US-based fact-finding team releases a report that claims two divisions of the Vietnamese army have entered into northern Laos.

The reports, when compiled together, paint a picture that all is not well in the sleepy communist country.

The bus attack on February 6 along Route 13 that links the capital Vientiane with the ancient city of Luang Prabang in the north shattered the image of Laos being a safe tourist destination.

As many as 30 gunmen jumped out from behind bushes along the highway five kilometers north of Vang Vieng and opened fire on a bus with M-16 assault rifles and grenade launchers. Two Swiss cyclists on the road were shot and killed as they tried to flee. According to survivors, the attackers looked Hmong and spoke the Hmong language. Time Asia magazine reported that a military officer at the scene said a calling card was left on the dead Swiss woman's corpse that read: We have lost our nation and are fighting to get it back."

A little over two months later, on April 20, another bus attack occurred in the same area, leaving at least 13 dead and dozens injured. Again, it is believed that the gunmen were Hmong.

No one has claimed responsibility for the deadly attacks, and the Laotian government has dismissed suggestions that they were carried out by antigovernment Hmong rebels. "Both incidents involved robberies of armed bandits," Deputy Prime Minister Somsavat Lengsavad told Bangkok's The Nation newspaper after the second attack. "Physical evidence shows that both of these incidents were robberies," The Nation quoted him as saying.

Hmong in the United States, including General Vang Pao, who was picked by the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to lead an army of Hmong guerrillas during the Vietnam War, insist that Hmong insurgents still operating in Laos do not attack civilians.

Whether these attacks were the work of Hmong rebels or not, the country is still facing a security problem, and Hmong insurgents continue to operate 28 years after the communist takeover of Laos.

During the Vietnam War, the CIA recruited a Hmong army led by General Vang Pao to help fight the Communist Pathet Lao and the North Vietnamese who used Laos as a supply line to move troops and equipment into South Vietnam. The Hmong paid a heavy price for helping the United States - more than 17,000 of Vang Pao's soldiers were killed or unaccounted for and an estimated 50,000 Hmong civilians died. And in the end, they were abandoned by their US patrons and left on the losing side of the war.

In the pursuing years, thousands fled to Thailand telling horror tales of atrocities committed by their new communist rulers who publicly vowed to wipe them out. Those who didn't flee, including about 15,000 of Vang Pao's guerrillas, were left in the jungles to fight for their survival. They still fight.

Time Asia magazine, in its May 5 issue, shed new light on this decades-old conflict that has gone widely unnoticed by the rest of the world. Hmong rebels are still on the run, fighting for their survival - the last remnants of a US-backed army are still battling it out in the jungles of northern Laos. They are armed with weapons left over from the Vietnam War and say they are too poorly equipped to fight back - they can only run and defend, Time Asia reported.

Two days after the second deadly bus attack and about a week before the Time Asia article hit newsstands, Laotian army chief of staff Major-General Kenekham Senglathone was in Hanoi on an official visit to meet with his Vietnamese counterpart, Lieutenant-General Phung Quang Thanh, and later with Deputy Prime Minister Vu Khoan and Defense Minister Lieutenant-General Pham Van Tra. Radio Australia said the talks were aimed to "strengthen relations".

Military cooperation between Hanoi and Vientiane has always been strong. Hanoi aided the communist Pathet Lao to victory in 1975, and since then has been Vientiane's staunchest ally. Vietnam maintained an upward of 50,000 troops in Laos through the 1980s until the fall of the Soviet Union forced them to cut military spending and pull back most of its forces.

So when reports come out of Laos that Vietnamese soldiers are operating in Laos - such as the Wednesday report by a the US-based Fact Finding Commission that claims two divisions of the Vietnamese army have moved into northern Laos since February - it doesn't come as much surprise to analysts.

"Well, there has always been one division there," said a former US special forces officer who has lived and worked in Asia for the better part of 40 years and spoke on condition of anonymity. "And by all reports they have been reinforced," he said in a telephone interview when asked about the validity of the Fact Finding Commission's claim.

"They [Vietnamese forces] are primarily used to suppress the Hmong," he said, adding that they are also used for security at a Chinese gold mine.

In the report released on Wednesday, the Fact Finding Commission claimed: "Since February of this year, two divisions of Vietnamese Army forces have entered Laos and [have] spread across the northern provinces. These Vietnamese forces have joined up with LPDR [Lao People's Democratic Republic] troops to bolster defenses against rumored threats of internal dissatisfaction with the LPDR government." The claim cited "sources in Southeast Asia".

The group also reported that 739 people have been killed, 615 injured, and 414 captured in skirmishes in the northern region of Bolikamxay province since February. These reports cannot be independently verified, but Time Asia, quoting Hmong insurgents in its May 5 article, reported that last October, 216 Hmong were killed in an attack launched by the Laotian military in Xaysomboune.

The media are tightly controlled in Laos, so it is difficult to get an accurate picture of what is going on. But judging from the reports that keep trickling in, one thing is clear: the country's turbulent past is not yet over.

SYDNEY - Political differences between rival groups of highland Hmong are thought to have triggered an attack late last week on a bus near the central Laotian town of Vang Vieng that killed at least 10 Laotians and two foreigners.

Vang Vieng has long been a flashpoint for fighting between remnants of the right-wing guerrilla movement and the communist Pathet Lao who have ruled Laos since 1975. However, the latest incident appears to have resulted from resentment over the government's pacification efforts, which include a policy of integrating more moderate Hmong villagers.

Isolated within the international community since the end of the Cold War, the rebels are using strongarm methods to build up a declining base of support among their own ethnic population.

"They are frustrated, under-manned, poorly financed. The government is probably winning the image battle and the insurgents evidently don't like it," said a diplomat. "Obviously it is too early to write the final chapter for the insurgency, but I think we are going to see them become an irrelevancy as the government recognizes the limitations of its policies and begins to open up."

Tensions between the guerrillas and the estimated 250,000 Hmong living peacefully within the community first emerged five years ago after Thailand began closing refugee camps on its side of the border and forced tens of thousands of exiles to return home. Most were expected to be jailed or even executed for their anti- government activities; instead, the government encouraged their peaceful assimilation alongside the lowland population.

The surprise change of tack reflected a dose of political realism in the secretive party establishment in Vientiane, which was struggling to contain a middle-class revolt over worsening economic and social conditions.

Kept afloat by socialist aid during the Cold War, Laos was suddenly cast adrift by the breakup of the Soviet Union in 1991 and forced to court its capitalist neighbors with promises of an open-door investment package and gradual political reforms. Neither was fully implemented, reportedly because of internal differences between the old revolutionary guard of hardline communists and the upcoming generation of younger technocrats.

Apart from dropping the hammer and sickle from the flag, Vientiane kept rigidly to its rubber-stamped leadership structure and continued to put ideology ahead of the procedural overhaul needed to sustain foreign investment.

On the economic front, one severe constraint was a lack of expertise: about 25 percent of the population, including most skilled workers, went into exile after the communist takeover, mainly in the United States, Australia and France.

By 1999 most of the foreign business people had left in disgust, dragging the kip down to a record low of 9,000 to the US dollar. With their incomes in effect wiped out, government employees were the first to rebel. A series of bomb blasts that swept Vientiane in 2000 is believed to have been orchestrated by a group of disenchanted civil servants and business people, though they probably had help from the Hmong insurgents.

Alarm bells began to sound in Vientiane in the middle of 2000.

"These old men, these communists, they become rattled - scared, you know - like they weren't before, we know this for certain. We learned about this crisis [meeting] with Nouhak Phoumsavanh so they can stop the Pathet Lao killing each other," said a Hmong community leader in Bangkok.

Diplomats have confirmed that former president Nouhak Phoumsavanh, who retained an elder-statesman role within the party after his retirement, was so shocked by the attacks that he called an unscheduled leadership summit. While details are sketchy, it is known that he advocated a new policy of national unity that would, if necessary, encompass political and social reforms, including a multi-party state.

There is little evidence that his pleas were heeded. The same aging leadership had already been returned to power in general elections during April, and social tensions were heightened by the growing wealth disparity between the privileged party hierarchy and the masses, who generally live on less than US$1 a day.

However, the policy toward the Hmong has had markedly more success, largely because of a more accommodating relationship with Thailand that in effect cut off the lifeline of the Hmong rebels.

Originally established as part of the Pentagon's undeclared war against North Vietnamese supply lines on the Ho Chi Minh Trail during the late 1960s, the Hmong guerrilla army should have faded away at the end of the Cold War. But it was kept afloat by sympathetic officers within the Thai military who suspected that Laos was being used as a springboard for Vietnamese infiltration into northeastern Thailand.

Until 1991, several thousand rebels were being financed and armed through a conduit that stretched from the jungles of Laos' Sayaboury province to expatriate communities in the US state of California and in Melbourne, Australia.

But this all changed with the open-door policy in Vientiane, and the invitation for Thai business to lead the way in exploiting Laos' extensive resources base, which included some of the most intact forests in Southeast Asia. Thailand's armed forces, with their unrivaled access into border security areas and strong base within the Bangkok political establishment, were destined for a leading role. They left the Hmong out in the cold.

"First the Thais closed the borders, then the camps. Finally they began sending the exiles home, thus severing the most direct foreign linkage. And of course, the US didn't really want to [know] them either in the postwar recriminations," said the diplomat.

Washington was keen to bury the whole Indochina era after its ignominious pullout from Vietnam in 1975, and found a ready excuse for cutting the Laotian rebels loose when expatriate groups were implicated in heroin-smuggling rings in the late 1980s.

The Hmong were also divided within their own ranks. One group, closely identified with the heroin racket, was led by exiled wartime leader Vang Pao; the other, known as Chao Faa, was under Pa Kao Her, a former lieutenant of Vang Pao. Ostracized and discredited, the Hmong became less active at a military level, but ironically saw their base of political support bolstered by the social backlash over failed economic policies.

Vang Vieng, the scene of the first raids against Pathet Lao troops in 1975, was critical to the movement's grassroots support, and hence has also been a key focus of government pacification efforts.

Route 13, the road link between Vientiane and Vang Vieng, was first ambushed in early 1976 by Hmong who reportedly used weapons and ammunition hidden by Vang Pao's forces before they fled into exile. But more recently it has become an economic lifeline, and reports in Thai security circles suggest that attitudes are hardening against the rebels even in the Hmong population as the government's hearts-and-minds campaign proves effective.

While there is no evidence that wider political change is in the wind, the party leadership has become conscious of the need to minimize the risks of social discord by bridging ethnic divides and keeping the middle classes on side.

Cash is being found for disgruntled teachers who in some cases hadn't been paid for years. Working conditions are being improved for civil servants. More aid is being diverted to villagers. And returning Hmong are being welcomed with housing and in some cases jobs.

"Laos relies on foreign donors for 80 percent of its economy, which puts it in the same category as some African states. There is a long way to go, but we can see at least an awareness that this situation cannot be allowed to go on indefinitely," said the diplomat.

VIENTIANE - A series of mysterious bomb explosions in the Lao capital Vientiane and a botched attempt by rebel gunmen to attack government offices along the Thai-Lao border have brought sudden attention to dissident activity in this otherwise slow and sleepy communist-ruled country.

While most political analysts rule out dissidence spinning out of control and posing a real threat to the Lao government, there are signs that public discontent due to the economy's poor state, rampant corruption and rising material expectations could grow rapidly if the authorities do not take heed.

The most dramatic evidence of dissidence came on July 3, when a group of 60 anti-government rebels clashed with Lao troops while trying to capture state offices at a village inside Laos close to the southern section of the Thai-Lao border. The anti-Vientiane insurgents lost six of their members before fleeing into Thailand, where they are currently now in custody. Thai police seized a letter from the rebels signed by a US-based commander of the rebel Lao United Army, which calls for a ''struggle of Lao freedom fighters to liberate the country from the communists''. One rebel was quoted by the Thai media as saying that the movement wanted the revival of ''the Lao monarchy, democracy and independence''.

The rebel action comes on the heels of nearly a dozen random bomb explosions in Vientiane during the past two months, which the Lao government has blamed on remnants of an ethnic Hmong army that fought the communists during the Vietnam war. At least one person was killed and many, including foreign tourists, were injured in the blasts which were usually caused by low-intensity grenade type devices.

''The frequency with which the blasts have occurred clearly show that they are not due to individual cases of business rivalry or personal enmity but clearly aimed at the Lao government,'' says an Asian diplomat based in Vientiane. According to the diplomat, however, it is unlikely that the Hmong, many of whom are refugees in Thailand, are involved.

Observers in Vientiane say that anti-government forces might be trying to exploit a perceptible rise in public discontent since the onset of the Asian economic crisis in mid-1997, which derailed an otherwise steady pace of growth in the country.

Between 1992 and 1997, Laos' annual GDP growth averaged 7 percent. Laos had managed to attract foreign investment and aid from multilateral agencies in the nineties due to liberalization of its economy. This led to rising incomes in urban centers like Vientiane and growing expectations in the countryside, where a bulk of the population still lives. But in 1998-99 the inflation rate jumped to more than 143 percent and the value of the kip, the Lao currency, dipped from 930 kip to the US dollar in early 1997 to nearly 9,500 kip by August 1999 before steadying somewhat at 7,500 kip currently.

A number of businesses, both foreign and locally owned, have ceased operations. Foreign direct investment commitments to Laos fell by 91 percent in 1997, and actual flows declined by 41 percent.

According to an International Monetary Fund report last year, the crisis has resulted in reduced real incomes and purchasing power, changes in consumption and saving patterns. While more affluent farmers have benefited from higher agricultural prices in Thai markets and a favorable foreign exchange rate, poorer farmers have suffered significant real income erosion and declining living conditions. There has also been a growing pressure on the labor market due to the return of many Lao migrant workers from neighboring Thailand.

The downturn in the economy has led to greater public focus on the functioning of the state machinery, where abysmally low salaries make officials prone to corruption.

The recent incidents against the Lao government have also heightened tensions with neighboring Thailand, which Vientiane accuses of harboring and even aiding anti-government rebels. The fact that 15 of the 60 rebels participating in the border raid carried Thai identification cards has also aroused suspicions regarding the role of the Thai authorities.

The Lao government has asked Thailand to hand over all the insurgents involved in the border raid incident and currently now in custody of the Thai police, but Bangkok says the attackers have to be charged in Thailand.

During the Vietnam War, Thailand was a staging point for both US and pro-royalist Lao troops to fight the communist guerillas. Relations between the two countries remained hostile until the end of the Cold War in the late eighties.

With the opening up of the Lao economy in the early nineties, Thailand has become its single largest investor, a major source of imports as well as a gateway for exports from the landlocked country. ''Laos has become more and more economically dependent on Thailand in recent years and this has led to factionalism within the Lao government between pro- and anti-Thai lobbies,'' says a foreign businessman based in Vientiane. While some members of the ruling party have favoured greater economic ties with Thailand, others worried about losing the country's economic independence have sought closer ties with Vietnam and China.

According to the businessman, the possibility that the current spurt in terrorist activity could be encouraged by elements within the Lao establishment cannot be ruled out.

Whether that is true or not, there is little doubt that the Lao government will unwittingly play into the hands of external forces trying to destabilize it if it fails to stamp out corruption and pay more attention to its citizens' needs.

(Inter Press Service)

HANOI (AFP) - The United States and Vietnam have signed an agreement capping the explosive growth in US-bound Vietnamese textile exports in response to domestic pressure from American manufacturers.

The deal was inked late Friday in Washington between officials from the US Trade Representative, an executive arm of the White House, and Vietnam's trade ministry following days of tough negotiations that began on April 9.

The opening round of talks was held in February in Hanoi and followed the implementation of their tariff-slashing bilateral trade agreement (BTA), which came into force in December 2001, triggering a boom in two-way trade.

"The agreement brings Vietnam into the global textile trading system, for as long at least as worldwide textile quotas are around," US trade official David Spooner told journalists in a telephone conference call on Saturday.

Under the deal, which takes effect on May 1, the total value of Vietnamese textile and clothing exports to the United States will be capped at around 1.65-1.7 billion dollars per year.

Without the quotas, US-bound Vietnamese textile shipments, which include everything from underwear and hosiery to sweaters and trousers, were expected to have surpassed this ceiling in 2003.

Last year they soared a massive 1,800 percent to 952 million dollars from 49 million dollars in 2001, prompting a flood of complaints from the small garment manufacturing industry in the United States over cheap imports.

Low labour costs give Vietnamese textile companies a huge advantage over their US counterparts.

Hanoi had been a reluctant partner in the negotiations, and had repeatedly voiced concerns over US protectionism and the impact the imposition of quotas would have on the local industry, which supports around two million jobs.

It had also argued that any ceiling on exports would stifle the communist nation's attempts to lift itself out of poverty. The textile sector is now Vietnam's second biggest earner of foreign exchange after crude oil.

Vietnam's received support in its tussle from 35 large US retail and manufacturing giants, including Nike, Gap and K-Mart, for whom Vietnam is an important source of clothing and counterbalance to China.

They said in a February 6 letter to US Trade Representative Robert Zoellick that quotas could result in supply shortages.

"Like most deals both sides probably feel they have a bad deal and so it is probably a good one," said Tony Foster, chairman of the Hanoi chapter of the American Chamber of Commerce.

"However, both will be able to say it is better than it might have been," he added.

The agreement runs until December 31, 2004, but could continue on an annual basis until Vietnam joins the World Trade Organisation (WTO). Hanoi has set an ambitious target date for membership of 2005.

WTO members have to eliminate textile quotas among themselves at the end of 2004 when the 10-year Agreement on Textiles and Clothing expires.

Under the deal between the two former military foes, the agreed quotas for the list of 38 textile items will limit growth in Vietnamese exports to seven percent per year, with the exception of wool products which will be restricted to two percent.

Hanoi has also pledged to allow US customs agents to inspect Vietnamese factories to verify production claims and has reaffirmed its commitment to international rules governing workers' rights and anti-sweatshop provisions.

The agreement comes in the wake of Washington's imposition of tough anti-dumping duties on Vietnam's lucrative catfish exports to the United States in January, a move that has infuriated Hanoi.

The two countries established diplomatic relations in 1995.

CHIANG KHONG, Thailand (Reuters) - For half a century Kamtan Inkaew had never fallen from his thin wooden fishing boat into the mighty Mekong river. Then he was tipped into its swirling currents twice in one week.

"They saw me near the shore, but didn't even try to change direction," the 71-year-old Thai fisherman said.

"The Chinese ship passed so close, the waves were big enough to rock my boat and sink it. The engine was very expensive to fix and then a few days later the same thing happened again."

Kamtan's anger, and his fear that a dozen 500-tonne Chinese ships could soon be forging down the Mekong river each day are shared by many villagers in the "golden triangle" region where the borders of Thailand, Laos and Myanmar meet.

They say a Chinese-funded project to use explosives to smash rocky reefs and shoals on the Mekong river to let ships navigate between the southern Chinese town of Simao and Luang Prabang in northern Laos is destroying fish stocks and eroding populated river banks. And local farmers complain markets are getting flooded by cheap Chinese agricultural products.

A first phase of blasting on the upper Mekong since last April has already allowed 150-tonne ships to ply between China and the Golden Triangle town of Chiang Saen.

The project aims to open the whole 360 km (224 miles) stretch to Luang Prabang to 500-tonne ships, but a schedule for the destruction of more reefs in Laos and channel widening has not yet been set.

Reefs in the area, some as long as two kilometres, are the breeding ground for many migratory fish, a vital source of protein for some 65 million people who live on the river.

The biggest freshwater fish in the world, the giant Mekong catfish, which can grow to over three metres, hatches its eggs among rocks near Chiang Khong, just south of the golden triangle.

CHEAP GOODS

As the river slips from the grip the rocks provided, villagers say faster currents are chiselling away fertile sand banks where lettuce and cabbages are grown in the dry season. The wake from bigger vessels could make the problem worse.

But the cheap goods filling the hulls of the southbound ships, ranging from plastic binoculars and razors to vegetables, are even more of a worry for local shopkeepers and farmers.

The golden triangle region, famed for opium and heroin production, has had close trade links with China for centuries. But China's accession to the World Trade Organisation (WTO) in 2000 helped turn the 700-year-old town of Chiang Saen into a bustling river port handling 100- and 150-tonne ships rather than traditional rice barges.

"They're bringing onions, garlic, dried chillies and ginger that are five times cheaper than local products," said Jirasak Inthayot, an activist for a community group in Chiang Kong, which is campaigning against the reef blasting.

"People here are worried that in the future, even more agricultural products will come from southern China and they won't be able to compete."

The 4,500 km-long Mekong river is central to China's plans for the economic development of its southern province of Yunnan.

Wary that envy of fast growing east coast cities in the rural interior could spark social and political unrest, the Chinese government is keen to direct Yunnan's trade links southwards to Thailand, Myanmar, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam, and to improve sea access for the province's goods.

Myanmar, Laos and Thailand, who signed up to the reef blasting project in 2000, hope the trade will help pull them into the orbit of China's rapid economic growth.

The United Nations says annual inward investment to Southeast Asia fell by 56 percent to $13.2 billion (8.3 billion pounds) between 1997 and 2001, while foreign funds heading each year for China grew nearly six percent to $46.8 billion.

"JUST SOME STONES"

Landlocked Laos says opening the Mekong to bigger boats will help lift its 5.2 million population out of subsistence farming and poverty. The communist government, now trying to move to a market economy, hopes to spur trade in wood products, textiles and minerals.

"Right now we don't have transportation, so Laos gets nothing," Laotian Trade Minister Soulivong Daravong told Reuters. "But this link will increase revenue. By having the possibility of transporting goods, people can buy and sell. It's much better than being isolated."

He said the project would have a small effect on fisheries.

"We're not blowing up whole rapids, just some stones that could break the boats when they come," Soulivong said. "Of course we're making some harm to nature but that can be accepted because it is not big harm."

But the author of a report for the Laotian government on the possible effects of the navigation project, said Laos should halt the blasting until a proper environmental impact study is done.

"What's happening there is non-reversible," Brian Finlayson, a hydrologist at Melbourne University, said. "You can't say 'well that didn't work out as we expected, let's put it back'."

Kamtan, sitting under a bamboo shade on a muddy bank of the Mekong, said it was already too late.

"There are fewer fish now. Before I could catch 20 or 30 kg a week. Now it's just small fish, enough for my family, but there's nothing left to take to the market."

Chiang Khong residents suggest new roads or the continued use of small Laotian barges would allow trade to grow without harming traditional river life.

But villagers said the Thai government never consulted them before giving the go-ahead for the project and accused a distant Thai business elite of cosying up to China.

"This is affecting the poorest people, the people who depend on farming and fishing," said Jirasak.

"The people profiting are the ones who own the companies that sell cement, petrochemicals and rubber tyres to China, who are all sitting in air conditioned offices in Bangkok."

SAN JOSE, Calif. -- In the last 13 months, Don Duong went from film star to pariah to actor-in-exile -- a harrowing journey that, for the moment, has ended here in the safe confines of his sister's suburban home.

The 46-year-old actor, who once won Vietnam's equivalent of the Oscar and worked with stars like Mel Gibson on American movies, flew out of Ho Chi Minh City early in April with his immediate family after a lengthy campaign by the government-owned media to brand him a traitor. His only crime: appearing in We Were Soldiers with Gibson and Green Dragon with Patrick Swayze and Forest Whitaker.

"I'm worried because I come here with empty hands. I'm starting from zero," said Duong, wearing a 1999 Sundance Film Festival sweatshirt. His sister, Susie Bui, translated as he gave his first interview since arriving in the United States. "First I must plan everything for my children. I have to get them into school," he said. "We just applied for our Social Security cards." Next comes learning English, of which he speaks very little. Then, "after everything, I would like to have the chance to act again."

The actor said he had been living in constant fear of arrest -- right up to the day he left his native country, where he had been denounced as "a human puppet" who had "lost his honor" for performing in films that "distorted the humanity of the Vietnamese people."

Those accusations touched off a campaign of harassment that culminated in his being confronted with this choice: Admit that he was a traitor and face punishment or leave the country that he loved.

He said he could not, on principle, "put a bad and false mark" on his family's name by admitting to a crime he had not committed.

But the decision was bittersweet. "I'm upset because I didn't want to leave Vietnam," he said. "I left behind my home, all my family and friends, but I am happy because my children now have a chance. I feel at peace here because there is nothing to be afraid of."

His plight became a cause clebre among some in the Hollywood community, who launched a letter-writing campaign in September to help him. Three months later, the U.S. State Department became involved and an agreement was reached that allowed Duong and his immediate family entry into the United States.

Duong was one of Vietnam's leading actors, having appeared in 50 films. His best actor "Oscar" was awarded there in 1993. He also starred in two films that won best picture in Vietnamese film festivals. In 2000, Vietnam submitted Three Seasons, in which he starred, as its entry to the Academy Awards for best foreign film.

For reasons he does not fully understand, the first newspaper condemnation came in May -- despite praise for We Were Soldiers from another government paper only two months earlier -- and eventually snowballed into accusations of treason. Duong said he was baffled that anyone could see betrayal in his work; he said We Were Soldiers treated Vietnamese soldiers with respect and Green Dragon offered a realistic portrayal of Vietnamese refugees.

By September, though, he had been booted out of the Vietnamese actors guild, a group that he had belonged to for 18 years. He also was interrogated by government officials in the department that regulates the country's cultural affairs and told to sign an admission of guilt.

"The police came to my house at midnight on Sept. 16 and banged on my door," he said. The next day, his passport was seized by another government division. A week later, he was questioned by officials who demanded that he write a report about why he took the roles in We Were Soldiers and Green Dragon. He did so. Afterward, he was told to write that he was a traitor. He refused.

He was told by government interrogators that he had to check into the police station every few days and tell them where he was going and where he had been. He was also told that he would be questioned again and again until he admitted he was a traitor.

"When I refused again, they said if I agreed to accept my guilt, they would forgive it," said Duong, who by this point suspected his phones were tapped and his e-mail monitored. "I didn't believe it. Why would I have to write it? I did nothing wrong. If I signed it, I believe they would have used it to arrest me."

Then, in October, his 11-year-old, Linh, and his 16-year-old, Long, were pulled from their classrooms and interrogated.

That was the lowest point, Duong said. "The school officials questioned them. Their friends were questioning them. When they came home from school they were very quiet. It really hurt me when my children would be silent to me."

As negotiations to leave the country were under way, the pressure continued and Duong said he learned of a possible plot to frame him for a crime.

Then, days before they left, he said, a mob of 20 people entered his sister's restaurant. One of the men took out a knife and slashed a picture of Duong standing with Swayze and burned Duong's image with a cigarette.

The morning of their departure, there was a report in the government-owned paper that said that Duong had spoken ill of Vietnam and that stronger action should be taken against him.

At the airport, as he was preparing to board the plane with his family, police suddenly approached and plucked him from the line. "They told me that if we want to, we can arrest you," Duong said. "They tore open every suitcase and searched through everything."

As police rummaged through the family's suitcases, staff from the U.S. Consulate began making a flurry of phone calls to hold the EVA Airlines flight. His wife and two sons were allowed to board, while Duong was kept back, wondering whether he would ever see them again.

Duong watched as police pulled from the suitcase letters and e-mails of support sent to him from his American and Vietnamese friends. They poked around and seized a pile of press clippings from Western media.

Fifteen minutes passed. Then the police put a piece of paper in front of him and told him to sign it. He anxiously read what turned out to be only a confirmation stating what they had taken from his suitcases. He signed and was allowed to proceed.

"I feel very lucky," Duong said. "If I delayed my travel or the article came out one day later, I think I would have been arrested."

He credits author Joe Galloway, who co-wrote the book on which the film We Were Soldiers was based, for working behind the scenes with the State Department to secure his safety.

In a prepared statement, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Hanoi billed Duong's departure as a simple immigration matter: "The Vietnamese government always pursues a policy of humanitarianism and goodwill on immigration of Vietnamese citizens, especially on the grounds of family reunion," it said. "Don Duong's case belongs to this category."

Duong said he was thankful to all the people who helped him, especially artists in Vietnam and around the world who "raised their voice" on his behalf.

"I think people should speak up, otherwise nothing will ever change," he said. "You must stand up for what you believe, otherwise you are empty."

Scientists have increased their estimate of how much Agent Orange and other dioxin-tainted defoliants the U.S. military sprayed during the Vietnam War. But researchers say it remains unclear whether the new estimate means some U.S. veterans and Vietnamese face increased risks of cancer and other illnesses.

By re-examining military records, including the logs of pilots who flew spraying missions, public health researchers at Columbia University determined that nearly 2 million additional gallons of the herbicides were sprayed from 1961 to 1971. The new figure adds about 10 percent to the 19 million gallons previously known to be sprayed.

About 55 percent was Agent Orange _ nicknamed for the color of the identification band on its storage containers. Scientists said the other herbicides, such as Agent Pink and Agent Purple, were closely related to Agent Orange but even more potent.

Scientists said at least one-quarter of the extra herbicides used were the more potent blends, and the total amount of dioxin left in Vietnam's forests, fields and mangrove swamps could be four times higher than previously estimated.

Much of the dioxin was TCDD, which is linked to some cancers and diabetes, spina bifida in children and other conditions.

"That was a major surprise," said Columbia epidemoliologist Steven Stellman, one of the study's co-authors.

"The dioxin contamination in Agent Purple was much higher than in Agent Orange," he said. "So even if it didn't contribute to the total herbicide usage, it contributes disproportionately to the total amount of dioxin."

The study appears in Thursday's issue of the journal Nature. The research was authorized by the National Academy of Science's Institute of Medicine, which has issued a series of reports looking at the effects of herbicides used in Vietnam.

About 10,000 Vietnam veterans receive disability benefits related to Agent Orange exposure. One million Vietnamese exposed to wartime spraying and their offspring are reported to suffer from the same ailments.

Researchers disagreed as to how the Columbia study might be used.

NAS recommended that it "serve as a foundation for new public health studies to more accurately determine which U.S. veterans might have been exposed." But some scientists who did not work on the study said it "does little" to determine Agent Orange's health consequences because it does include toxicological measurements from blood and tissue samples.

"What is important from a health perspective is what gets into humans, not what is sprayed," said Arnold Schecter of the University of Texas School of Public Health in Dallas.

Thirty-five years after defoliant spraying, it is getting harder to determine whether a veteran was exposed and how that might be linked to disease.

That's because dioxin levels decline in the bloodstream over time; an exposed veteran now might carry less than 2 percent of their wartime dioxin level. And dioxin analysis is expensive _ as much as $1,000 for a single test.

Using geographical information, Stellman said the Columbia study determines which soldiers might have been heavily exposed to defoliants by comparing records of troop movements and the coordinates of 20,000 spraying missions.

Such information also could be useful in Vietnam.

The Columbia researchers calculated that up to 4.8 million Vietnamese were living in 3,181 villages that were directly sprayed. And unlike U.S. veterans, their dioxin exposure persists. That's because the herbicide remains in the soil and water, and migrates into the tissues of fish and fowl that local residents eat.

Blood samples collected by Schecter show some Vietnamese still carry dioxin at levels 135 times higher than people living in unsprayed areas.

"Cancer, miscarriages and birth defects in the sprayed areas are always higher than in the areas not sprayed," said Tran Manh Hung of the special committee on Agent Orange in Vietnam's Ministry of Health. "It might take another 50 years before those rates become equal."

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - A leading Vietnamese actor branded a traitor by Hanoi for appearing in a Hollywood Vietnam War film said on Friday that he was deeply saddened to be forced to leave his homeland this week.

"I had to leave under pressure and I am very, very sad about it," Don Duong, who arrived with his family in San Jose, California on Wednesday, said in an interview. "Deep down in my heart I never wanted to leave.

"That is my country, where I was born and where I grew up; but under the conditions, I had no choice."

Duong, 44, a popular national actor, fell from grace last September after playing a Vietnamese officer opposite Mel Gibson in "We Were Soldiers." Hanoi said the movie, which portrayed a U.S. battle victory over the North Vietnamese, was unflattering and inaccurate.

"I don't regret making the movie; I just played a role in it," he said, adding that the final edited film was not as historically accurate as the original script. "But the Vietnam War is still a controversial topic.

"The film 'We Were Soldiers' made people in north Vietnam uncomfortable," he said. "They misunderstood the film."

Duong also acted in "Green Dragon," a 2001 release that starred Patrick Swayze, which depicted the life of Vietnamese refugees in a U.S. camp after the Vietnam War.

After falling from favor last September, he was banned from leaving the country for five years or from acting in any movie during that period. Duong was also fined about $5,000, a stiff penalty by local standards. Police often came by his home.

"Friends still dropped by to calm me down, but they could not speak out publicly," he said.

Finally he was allowed to leave after a lobbying campaign from abroad.

FAMILY SPLIT AFTER WAR

Duong grew up in the South Vietnamese capital of Saigon, and like many found his family split after the Communist takeover of the south in 1975. He remained, but three of his sisters moved to America.

After just two days in the United States, Duong was already pining for the day he could return to Vietnam.

"I am like a tree that grew up and became fruitful in my homeland, yet because of a bad climate I could not continue there," he said. "I am hoping that one day in the future the bad climate will go away and everything will be calm and I can go back."

The actor said he would like to resume making films, but realizes it may not be easy.

"I would love to continue my career, and I am ready to start from zero, he said, with his sister Susie Bui, with whom he is now living, translating from Vietnamese. "But right now that is not important. Here I can find peace of mind, that is the most important thing."

Spy case highlights sophistication of Vietnam police: Amnesty AFP Friday April 11, 2:49 PM

Spy case highlights sophistication of Vietnam police: Amnesty

HANOI (AFP) - A new report by Amnesty International relating to a Vietnam espionage case highlights the sophistication of the country's police in dealing with dissidents, the rights groups said.

Amnesty said the report showed how three relatives of Roman Catholic Preist Father Nguyen Van Ly were arrested close to Ho Chi Minh City between 13 and 19 of June 2001, a month after their uncle.

Father Ly was sentenced to 15 years imprisonment in October 2001 after consistent calls for more religious freedom and criticism of the Vietnamese authorities.

His three relatives, Amnesty says, are now awaiting trial.

The charge sheet published by Amnesty Friday "shines light on the level of sophistication of the Vietnamese police and their thorough investigative methods, including close surveillance of people perceived a threat to national security", the report says.

"The charge sheets lists the dates and full contents of communications (emails, phone calls and faxes) made by the accused".

"It is clear that the authorities have access to the Internet messages of the accused and have recorded at least some of their phone conversations... There has been a serious breach in the right to privacy of the accused", Amnesty added.

Nguyen Vu Viet, 27, and Nguyen Truc Cuong, 36, nephews of Father Ly, are currently detained at a ministry of security prison in Ho Chi Minh City. Their sister Nguyen Thi Hoa, 44, was released on bail, according to Amnesty.

The three are accused of being in contact with "reactionary" organizations in the United States and providing information about their uncle.

Vietnamese authorities were not immediatelly available for comment.

Vietnam is harshly cracking down on religious dissidents and their family members by using vague laws to charge them with spying, which carries a possible death penalty, Amnesty International said Friday.

In a report, the London-based human rights group focused on charges brought against the niece and nephews of Father Thadeus Nguyen Van Ly, a Catholic priest sentenced to 15 years in jail in October 2001 for advocating religious freedom.

In January, state-controlled media reported that the three siblings _ Nguyen Vu Viet, 28, his brother Nguyen Truc Cuong, 36, and sister Nguyen Thi Hoa, 44 _ had been charged with spying for and providing anti-government information to a U.S.-based religious group and radio program.

"Branding the three accused as 'spies,' a charge which can carry the death penalty according to the Vietnamese criminal code, is the misuse of loosely worded national security legislation to stifle the fundamental rights of freedom of expression and association," the Amnesty International report said.

"Only in the last couple years have they started charging people again with espionage," said Daniel Alberman, a researcher who prepared the report. "It's a worrying sign that they're going very hard on these people."

Vietnamese officials did not respond to a request seeking comment Friday.

Ly, who had a small parish in central Hue, had given written testimony to a U.S. government committee urging the U.S. Congress to delay ratification of a bilateral trade agreement until Vietnam eased restrictions on religion.

His statements outraged the Vietnamese government, which denounced him as a traitor.

Rights groups and the U.S. State Department routinely accuse Hanoi of violating human rights and religious freedoms. Vietnam maintains that no one is arrested on religious or political grounds, only for breaking the law.

In a surprise development, Vietnam organised a high-profile meeting between Prime Minister Phan Van Khai and the country's leading Buddhist dissident but analysts warned Thursday against seeing the move as a major step towards religious reform by the communist regime.

Under the glare of television cameras, Khai Wednesday met Thich Huyen Quang, 86, head of the Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam (UBCV), which has been banned since 1981 for rejecting Communist Party supervision.

"Quang thanked the Vietnamese government for having allowed him to seek medical treatment in Hanoi and for allowing to visit the mausoleum of Ho Chi Minh and other sites," television reports said.

Quang has been under virtual house arrest since 1982 at the Quang Ngai pagoda in central Vietnam.

He had been requesting permission in vain for medical treatment in Ho Chi Minh City for a tumour in his eye. Finally he was allowed to seek treatment, but in Hanoi. The prime minister was reported to have asked after Quang's health and "noted the patriarch's contributions to the cause of national liberation".

"He also explained to him the policies being pursued by the government, the state and the communist party with regard to religion," the television report said. "The state does not allow individuals to use religion in order to cause divisions in the nation."

The International Buddhist Information Bureau (IBIB), which usually takes a dim view of the government's measures, said Thursday it was pleased with the meeting, calling it "an important first step".

"The fact that a prime minister holds talks with a prisoner of conscience who has spent 21 years in detention, and is still under effective house arrest is a significant event," the Paris-based body said.

It also attributed dramatic remarks to Khai not seen in the television interview, which could not be verified.

Referring to the repression of Buddhists, "Phan Van Khai admitted that 'at first, we had many shortcomings and made many mistakes. But from now on, we will gradually put everything right'," IBIB said.

"Venerable Thich Huyen Quang then asked why the Government had placed him under detention without charge for the past 21 years, and why Venerable Thich Quang Do was under 'administrative detention' in Ho Chi Minh City," the IBIB said, referring to the 74-year-old number two in the Buddhist church.

"Phan Van Khai did not reply directly, but inferred that Thich Quang Do's detention was 'an irrational decision made at a local level' and it was not the policy of the state."

After the meeting, the two men were photographed by the media, the IBIB added.

In Hanoi, however, officials denied Khai had uttered the quotes reported by the IBIB.

"I can confirm that the Prime minister did not make such statements," foreign ministry spokeswoman Phan Thuy Thanh said Thursday.

Further doubts for the likelihood of the meeting heralding a change in the communist leadership's attitude toward religion were raised by diplomats in the Vietnamese capital.

"This meeting is very important and proves that the regime is sure of itself and its ability to make gestures that cost not much," he said, adding, "there is no talk of freeing anybody or or recognising the UBCV."

Another analyst warned: "It was an amazing meeting but the UBCV won't get formal recognition. The regime is beginning to realise that the Buddhists don't pose such a big threat."

Foreign pressure has built up in recent years over Quang's case. Two diplomats from the European Union and an American official visited him in March. And as many as 31 Euro MPs wrote a letter asking Vietnam to free Quang and Do.

While Buddhism is tolerated by the Communist regime, it prohibits any expression of opposition to its decisions.

The Prime Minister of Vietnam, Phan Van Khai, has held almost an hour of talks with the leader of a banned religious group, the Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam, or UBCV. The Paris-based Buddhist Information Bureau says reports of the meeting indicated the prime minister had expressed regret for what he reportedly called past mistakes.

The monk, Thich Huyen Quang, has been under house arrest in central Vietnam for 20 years, since the UBCV was banned.

But ordinary Vietnamese know little about him, or the significance of his meeting with the Prime Minister.

Reports in the state media about the meeting revealed nothing about the monk, the ban on his church, or his detention.

The Vietnamese Government denies he is prevented from undertaking his religious duties.

The appearance of a dialogue between the banned church and the government - and at the top level - has been welcomed by Western diplomats, although with some reservations.

The meeting could be used by the ruling Communist Party to respond to criticism of its human rights record without any real change taking place.

State media reported that the meeting focused on Mr Khai's comments on religious freedom, which he says exists in Vietnam, and his recognition of religion's role in national development.

The Paris-based Buddhist Information Bureau says in a statement that the patriarch asked why the church had been banned for so long.

The meeting may be a sign that both sides are willing to talk.

But the ruling Communist Party central committee in January passed a resolution further tightening its control of the six approved religious movements.

Despite this, the appearance of the prime minister and the patriarch on the TV news will be regarded as a positive step, even if a small one.

Vietnam's prime minister spoke with the leader of a banned Buddhist church about religious freedoms, an international Buddhist support group said Thursday, calling the meeting "a significant event."

Thich Huyen Quang, patriarch of the Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam, has been under house arrest in a remote pagoda in central Vietnam since 1982.

Quang was sent to Hanoi last month to have a growth removed near his eye and requested a meeting with Prime Minister Phan Van Khai, which took place Wednesday, according to the Paris-based International Buddhist Information Bureau.

"The fact that a prime minister holds talks with a prisoner of conscience who has spent 21 years in detention and is still under effective house arrest is a significant event," Vo Van Ai, the bureau's director, said in a statement.

Ai quoted Quang as saying the 45-minute meeting was open and friendly, but no decisions were made regarding the status of the church, which was banned in 1981.

The patriarch was quoted as saying that the prime minister made no promises to release him or Thich Quang Do, the church's second-in-command, who is currently under house arrest.

As for re-establishing the church's status, Khai was quoted as saying: "We already have the Vietnam Buddhist Church. That's quite enough."

The bureau's statement quoted Quang as saying the meeting was "a promising step" and that he would continue to press the government.

The Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam is one of a number of independent religious groups banned by the communist government as possible threats to its authority. It allows only seven recognized religious organizations.

Villagers near Hanoi held five officials hostage for nearly 11 hours for stopping them from digging a grave in a cemetery that is to be relocated to make way for a residential complex, an official said Wednesday.

Relatives of the deceased had nearly finished digging the grave Monday when officials who work for the complex developer tried to stop them because burials are no longer permitted in the cemetery.

During the confrontation, a 94-year-old man fell down and bruised his leg. His children quickly surrounded the five officials, accusing them of beating the elderly man, said Le Van Tien, deputy chairman of the People's Committee of My Dinh village where complex is to be built.

The five officials were pelted with rocks as they were taken by the villagers from the cemetery to the village's communal house, Tien said.

An executive at the complex management board said one official suffered head injuries and was being treated at a hospital, but Tien was unaware of any injuries.

The crowd swelled from about 30 people to nearly 200. The officials were held in the communal house for about 11 hours, and it took some 40 police officers to get them released, the official said.

Tien said no villagers have been arrested for the incident, but police are investigating the case.

The People's Committee of Hanoi has allocated nearly 37 hectares (91 acres) of land in the village for the residential complex. Nearly 2,000 graves in the cemetery need to be relocated.

Land disputes are a major source of complaints filed against the communist government, which evicts people to make way for infrastructure or development projects at compensation rates lower than the market value of the land.

Dozens of people have been prosecuted for attacking officials or causing social disturbances over land disputes.

Cambodian police raided a notorious brothel district Saturday and rescued at least 36 Vietnamese girls _ some younger than 10 years old _ who were forced into prostitution.

At least 13 pimps and brothel owners were arrested in the raid on Svay Pak, a shantytown outside Phnom Penh with several brothels in its alleys.

All the girls, the operators and pimps are ethnic Vietnamese, police said.

At least 22 of the girls appear to be younger than 10, said Khut Sopheang, a Municipal Court prosecutor. Nine girls, aged between six and nine, were found in one house alone, a police officer said.

"This is quite a major operation we have executed," said Brig. Gen. Un Sokunthea, director of the Bureau of Juvenile Protection and Anti-Human Trafficking at the Ministry of Interior.

"Some girls are as young as 5 years old. They cried in fear when we found them," she said.

Some of the victims may have been held for trafficking to a third country, Un Sokunthea said.

The raid was conducted in cooperation with the Washington-based International Justice Mission, or IJM, a Christian group whose mission is to help people from oppression and abuses such as trafficking, sexual exploitation and forced prostitution.

The group's members accompanied some two dozen policemen who conducted the raid but they refused to speak with reporters. Police took the girls to the group's safe house.

Svay Pak, the most notorious of Phnom Penh's red light districts, has about 50 brothels. It was recently closed down twice _ ahead of a regional tourism conference and a summit of a Southeast Asian leaders _ but later reopened.

Child rights advocates say Cambodia is increasingly becoming a magnet for foreign pedophiles due to lax law enforcement, corruption in the courts and the poverty that forces young boys and girls into prostitution.

There are no figures on the number of child prostitutes involved in the country's sex trade.

One women's rights group says approximately 30 percent of Cambodia's sex workers are under 18. Prostitution is illegal in Cambodia but continues to thrive. Sex with those aged 14 or younger is punishable by up to 20 years in prison.

During the Vietnam War, one of the staunchest supporters of the communist North Vietnamese side was Iraq. Now that Iraq itself is under attack by US-led forces, the government in Hanoi is reciprocating with moral, if not logistical, support.

The new Iraqi ambassador to Vietnam is Salah Al-Mukhtar, a former newspaper editor in Baghdad.

He arrived in the country just two weeks ago, and says Vietnam is the only non-Arab country which Iraq considers a brotherly friend.

"I have seen in the last two weeks... the people of Vietnam are unanimously supporting Iraq and they are trying to volunteer to go to Iraq," Mr Al-Mukhtar said.

"They are showing their sympathy, they send me a bouquet of flowers, they came here to say 'we are with you, we are ready to fight, to go to Iraq, to show our solidarity,' he added."

He said that contrary to other governments in the region, Hanoi has not bowed to US demands to expel Iraqi diplomats.

Mr Al-Mukhtar said the war in Iraq would be worse for the US than the conflict in Vietnam.

"Vietnam will be a children's toy, a children's game. In Iraq they are now in the desert, we let them go inside in the depths of the desert in Iraq. We are isolating them from our cities... if they were entered any city, it will be a graveyard for them," he said.

He predicted the war would last "for years, not months".

"This is our opportunity to settle our disputes with the colonial mentality of the West. There is no way to teach the British and American colonial elite by political means. The only way is to drag them to the biggest quagmire they ever have involved in," Mr Al-Mukhtar said.

Asked how he would react if he met fellow diplomats from Britain, the US, or Australia, the Iraqi ambassador did not mince his words.

"I will slap them on their face ... We shall never permit them to talk to us. We shall insult them, because they are criminals. They are propagating for the mass killing of the civilians in Iraq," he said.

WASHINGTON - Call it the catfish wars.

A royal battle continues to rage between the United States and Vietnam over a recent US ruling that Vietnamese catfish producers are "dumping" their products in the US market at below-market costs, undercutting catfish farmers in Mississippi and Arkansas.

The decision, announced on January 27 by the US Commerce Department, was worsened in Vietnamese eyes by that department's ruling in November that Vietnam is running a non-market economy.

As a result, the country's fish exports have been hit by higher duties imposed on countries where the state plays a guiding role in the economy. Ten companies that export frozen fish to the United States are now subject to duties ranging from 38-62 percent.

The twin rulings have angered Vietnam's government and upset Vietnamese in the United States who are trying to support their country's move toward capitalism and its plunge into the world market.

"The direct victims of this will be the poor Vietnamese farmers," said Chi D Pham, the chief executive officer of Potomac Investments and Research Associates, a Virginia company that consults with US companies doing business in Vietnam. "It's the poor guy against the rich guy."

The US decisions "might set a very bad precedent for Vietnam's export earnings", argued Pham, a former consultant to the International Monetary Fund, at a mid-February seminar on Vietnam sponsored by the Sasakawa Peace Foundation in Washington.

"The [Department of Commerce] ruling is basically attacking small farmers working privately," said Viet Vu, a United Nations economist who has advised the UN Development Program on projects in Vietnam and other countries in Southeast Asia. "They're attacking the private sector the United States wants to develop in Vietnam," he said at the same meeting.

Their comments echo earlier statements from the Vietnamese government in Hanoi.

On January 28, shortly after the preliminary decision on fish exports was announced by the Commerce Department and the International Trade Commission, Phan Thuy Thanh, a spokeswoman for Vietnam's Foreign Ministry, called the US moves "totally inharmonious" with the spirit of the US-Vietnamese trade agreement signed two years ago.

The ruling "demonstrates the increasingly high protectionism of domestic production in the United States, running counter to its policy of encouraging trade liberalization and international economic integration", said Thanh.

In recent years, the United States has become Vietnam's largest export market for its catfish. US shipments rose from 575,000 pounds (about 261,000 kilograms) in 1998 to more than 20 million pounds (9 million kilos) in 2001, and now account for about one-third of the country's fish exports.

In 2002, US importers purchased about US$55 million worth of Vietnamese catfish, primarily two types of fish called basa and tra. They are prized by seafood and Asian restaurants for their mild, pleasant flavor. Nearly all of the fish enters the United States through the ports of San Francisco and Los Angeles.

The rising imports from Vietnam have been a disaster for the $590-million-a-year catfish industry in the United States, which is concentrated in Arkansas, Mississippi and a few other southern states.

According to the Catfish Farmers of America (CFA), the industry group that filed the complaint that led to the Commerce Department decision, US catfish prices decreased from 69 cents a pound ($1.52 a kilo) in January 2001 to about 55 cents a pound in 2002.

The association claims that catfish farmers cannot make a profit unless the price is above 60 cents.

The Catfish Farmers of America sought tariffs as high as 190 percent of Vietnamese imports, but the Commerce Department, charging that Vietnamese producers "have made sales to US customers at less than fair value," settled on 38-62 percent.

US buyers of Vietnam's fish exports must now post a bond equal to the tariffs on the specific product. Commerce Department officials will visit Vietnam over the next month and will then make a final determination that will determine the final tariffs to be paid.

In any case, the CFA said the Commerce ruling will bring "much needed relief to catfish farmers, processors and thousands of workers who have felt the impact of this unfairly traded product".

About 13,000 people work in the US industry, in contrast to 300,000-400,000 in Vietnam, the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette recently reported.

The newspaper also said that overproduction in US catfish farms has affected prices. Citing US Department of Agriculture statistics, the Democrat-Gazette said catfish-pond acreage increased by 28 percent, more than 42,000 acres (17,000 hectares), between 1994 and 2002.

In Washington, Pham and Vu argued that the basis for the US judgment against Vietnam was flawed.

Pham disagreed with the Commerce Department's contention that the Vietnamese government intervenes in the country's price system and artificially forces down prices.

Since Vietnam began its economic reform program called doi moi, he said, prices have been liberalized both in the domestic markets and in foreign trade. "Supply and demand do work in Vietnam," he said. "I do think there is a price system there."

Pham also noted that Vietnam has a "vibrant private sector". Privately owned companies, he said, increased in number by 190 percent between 1995 and 2002 while state enterprises dropped by 26 percent in the same period. Last year, privately owned companies invested $3.4 billion in the country, he added.

Vu said Vietnam had adopted a "market economy with a socialist orientation" where "prices and wages are set by the market".

"Having state-owned enterprises doesn't make an economy non-market," he said. "Some state enterprises are necessary foundations for some countries to grow quickly, as in South Korea."

But while there are few restraints on trade, Vu noted that Vietnam does not allow freedom of association or the formation of non-governmental groups.

Naranhkiri Tith, a Cambodian consultant to the IMF and a former financial advisor to the prime minister of Cambodia, disagreed with some of those arguments. He argued that China has developed a more solid market economy, while Vietnam's leaders want to preserve the framework of socialism.

"China saw communism as a means to an end, while in Vietnam, communism is the end," he said. "The practical consequences are very different."

(Inter Press Service)

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