Conflict in Laos involving the Hmong
Encyclopedia
The insurgency in Laos refers to the ongoing, albeit sporadic, military conflict between the Lao People's Army
and primarily members of the former "Secret Army" or the Hmong people
, who have faced governmental reprisals due to Hmong support for the American
-led, anti-communist campaigns in Laos during the Laotian Civil War. While severely depleted, the reminiscence of an early 1980s-era Royalist insurgency has been kept alive by an occasionally active guerilla force of around one thousand or so successors to that force. A right-wing insurgency with foreign support has appeared to have concluded by no later than 1990, and thus the Hmong insurgency remains by far the most active of the historical post-1975 trio of insurgencies.
In 1946, with the end of the Japanese occupation, Prince Souphanouvong and his half-brothers Prince Souvanna Phouma
and Prince Phetsarath formed two separate independence governments, briefly overthrowing the Laos King Sisavang Vong
who wanted to hand the country back to the rule of imperial France. The Hmong people had, for over half a century been closely allied with the French, who treated them as equals of the Lao people. Touby Lyfoung
, an important Hmong leader was decorated by the French administration for leading a combined French, Lao, and Hmong force to relieve the Village of Xieng Khoung from a combined Lao and Vietnamese force and saving the French representative in the village.
When the French withdrew from Laos shortly after their defeat in the Battle of Dien Bien Phu
the Americans, deep into the years of the Domino Theory
became increasingly embedded as their secret replacements. Under the leadership of the General Vang Pao
, Hmong forces kept the Pathet Lao and their Vietnamese backers in check, rescued downed American pilots, and helped the US, from their base in the "Secret City" of Long Tieng
to coordinate bombing missions over Vietnam. By 1975, with defeat in Vietnam, America had largely withdrawn and the Pathet Lao took control of the government. Hmong people, especially those who had participated in the military conflict were singled out for retribution. Thus began a mass exodus of over 350,000 Hmong refugees, mostly to the United States or to camps in Thailand
.
Of those Hmong people who remained in Laos, between over 30,000 were sent to re-education camps as political prisoners where they served indeterminate, sometimes life sentences. Enduring hard physical labor and difficult conditions, many people died. Thousands more Hmong people, mainly former soldiers and their families, escaped to remote mountain regions - particularly Phou Bia
, the highest (and thus least accessible) mountain peak in Laos. At first, these loosely organized groups staged attacks against Pathet Lao
and Vietnamese troops. Others remained in hiding to avoid conflict. Initial military successes by these small bands led to military counter-attacks by government forces, including aerial bombing and heavy artillery, as well as the use of defoliants and chemical weapons.
Today, most Hmong people in Laos live peacefully in villages and cities, but small groups of Hmong people, many of them second or third generation descendants of former CIA soldiers, remain internally displaced in remote parts of Laos, in fear of government reprisals. As recently as 2003, there were reports of sporadic attacks by these groups, but journalists who have visited their secret camps in recent times have described them as hungry, sick, and lacking weapons beyond Vietnam War era rifles. Despite posing no military threat, the Lao government has continued to characterize these people as "bandits" and continues to attack their positions, using rape as a weapon and often killing and injuring women and children. Most casualties occur while people are gathering food from the jungle, since any permanent settlement is impossible.
Faced with continuing military operations against them by the government and a scarcity of food, some groups have begun coming out of hiding, while others have sought asylum in Thailand and other countries. In December 2009 a group of 4,500 refugees were forcibly repatriated to Laos from camps in Thailand despite the objections of, amongst others, the United Nations and the USA.
Some Hmong fled to California
in the United States after the U.S. military
withdrew from Vietnam and Laos, ending its wars in Indochina
. In June 2005 as part of "Operation Tarnished Eagle" U.S. FBI
and anti-terrorism officials allegedly uncovered a "conspiracy to murder thousands and thousands of people at one time" and violently overthrow the government of Laos. The alleged plot included ex-U.S. Army Rangers
, former Green Berets
and other guns for hire. The plotters were accused of attempting to use rifles, Stinger surface-to-air missiles, anti-tank rockets and other arms and munitions smuggled from the U.S. via Thailand to "reduce government buildings in Vientiane
to rubble", said Bob Twiss, an assistant U.S. attorney. Lieutenant-Colonel Harrison Ulrich Jack, a retired California National Guard officer who reportedly served in covert operations during the Vietnam War (in Laos in co-ordination with the Hmong and other tribal groups) and former General Vang Pao
were named as the probable ringleaders of the purported coup plot. Vang Pao had reportedly built up a strong network of contacts within the U.S. government and corporate circles sympathetic to his cause. Some speculated that the proposed new government would be much more accepting of large foreign business and may also lead to an explosion of the drugs trade as has been the case in Afghanistan
.
The defendants lawyers argued that the case against all of their clients was spurious at best. "The case cannot proceed [because] the process has been so corrupted by the government's misconduct that there can never be any confidence in the validity of the charge," said Mark Reichel, one of the defense attorneys involved in the case. "[W]hile the [prosecution] tries to portray the 'conspiracy' as a dangerous and sophisticated military plan, it cannot refute the extensive evidence demonstrating otherwise - from the agent's informing the so-called conspirators that they would need an operational plan; to his providing a map of the region when they couldn't procure a useful one; to his explanation of what GPS was (including that it requires batteries); to the so-called conspirators' inability to finance the operation."
On September 18, 2009, the federal government dropped all charges against Vang Pao, announcing in a release that the "continued prosecution of this defendant is no longer warranted," and that the federal government was permitted to consider "the probable sentence or other consequences if the person is convicted.”
, pro-Royalist
forces organized under the so-called Lao National Liberation Front (LNLF) carried out their own insurgency in southern Laos; such of which had been initiated by a series of reasonably successful guerilla warfare attacks upon its seizure of weapons from the militaries of Laos and Vietnam. In 1982, the LNLF succeeded in briefly establishing the Royal Lao Democratic Government (proclaimed in exile in Bangkok
on August 18, 1982 earlier that year) in a collection of southern Lao provinces largely due to support and aid from the People's Republic of China
, which despite being a communist state
like Laos, maintained rather hostile relations with Laos (largely due to Laos' staunch alignment with and unequivocal support for Vietnam
.). During this time, the Lao government had referred to China's ruling clique as "the direct enemy of the Lao people" and further stated that relations could potentially be improved between itself and Thailand
as well as with the United States
, but gave no mention of a possibility for diplomatic amends with China. Despite allying itself formally in writing with Democratic Kampuchea
(Cambodia
under the Khmer Rouge
; also communist) during the Third Congress of the Lao People's Revolutionary Party
, allegations would surface that the Khmer Rouge
(closely allied to China, and vehemently anti-Vietnamese) had also been funding and alloting supplies to the anti-communist Royalist insurgents for use in their insurgency against the government of Laos, while the majority of purported support would be divulged during the forever displaced regime's exile along the Thai
border and perhaps to a lesser degree, in Thailand itself during the 1980s. The Royalists had also cooperated and were involved to a limited degree in the attempts to overthrow the Vietnamese-installed puppet regime
of the People's Republic of Kampuchea
alongside the Khmer Rouge. During the early 1980s, the Khmer Rouge had largely abandoned (or perhaps halted) communist ideals and were instead focused primarily on exuding Cambodian nationalist
fervor and an increase in anti-Vietnamese rhetoric.
The Royalist insurgency gradually fell into disrepair and in terms of its 70s and 80s-era form, it has almost entirely vanished militarily as well as ideologically. A correlated movement of sporadic insurgents succeeded the LNLF and while divided into the congruent style of multiple minimally-proportioned bands of insurgents, have been estimated to contain a strength nearing 2,000 to 3,000 men as of the early 1990s.
insurgents who placed their desire to expel Vietnamese political and military standing in Laos above any other goal. While the movement managed to proclaimed their own provisional
or "liberation" government (speedily disbanded by the Lao military), this insurgency proved to be as by chance less effective than the lesser-trained Royalist-focused insurgency. This insurgency has no reported standing in terms of force within Laos today. While its claims have been never been verified nor widely accepted, the LPNLUF claims to have put some one-third of Laotian territory under its provisional jurisdiction before it was put down by the Lao government.
The insurgents of the LNLF were largely former Royalist government officials who had fled into exile after the Kingdom of Laos
' demise in 1975 in the conclusion of the Laotian Civil War and Vietnam War
. The LNLF proved successful in recruiting fair numbers of rural militiamen from Champassak and Savannaket provinces. Individual units varied from as few as ten men to as many as 50, and all of these operated with little coordination.
Military of Laos
The Lao People's Army is the name of the armed forces of Laos, who are charged with protecting the country. Until 1975, the Royal Laos Army were the armed forces of the Laos, along with the Lao People's Liberation Army Air Force and the Lao People's Navy....
and primarily members of the former "Secret Army" or the Hmong people
Hmong people
The Hmong , are an Asian ethnic group from the mountainous regions of China, Vietnam, Laos, and Thailand. Hmong are also one of the sub-groups of the Miao ethnicity in southern China...
, who have faced governmental reprisals due to Hmong support for the American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
-led, anti-communist campaigns in Laos during the Laotian Civil War. While severely depleted, the reminiscence of an early 1980s-era Royalist insurgency has been kept alive by an occasionally active guerilla force of around one thousand or so successors to that force. A right-wing insurgency with foreign support has appeared to have concluded by no later than 1990, and thus the Hmong insurgency remains by far the most active of the historical post-1975 trio of insurgencies.
Hmong insurgency
The conflict stems from three events prior to Laos independence: a failed coup attempt by the Red Prince, Hmong aiding the French in Xieng Khoung against Lao and Vietnamese forces, and the French giving Hmong rights in Laos as equal to the Lao.In 1946, with the end of the Japanese occupation, Prince Souphanouvong and his half-brothers Prince Souvanna Phouma
Souvanna Phouma
Prince Souvanna Phouma was the leader of the neutralist faction and prime minister of the Kingdom of Laos several times, from 1951–1952, 1956–1958, 1960 and 1962-1975.-Early life:...
and Prince Phetsarath formed two separate independence governments, briefly overthrowing the Laos King Sisavang Vong
Sisavang Vong
Sisavang Phoulivong , was king of Kingdom of Luang Phrabang and later Kingdom of Laos from 28 April 1904 until his death on 20 October 1959.-Early life:...
who wanted to hand the country back to the rule of imperial France. The Hmong people had, for over half a century been closely allied with the French, who treated them as equals of the Lao people. Touby Lyfoung
Touby Lyfoung
Touby Lyfoung was a Hmong political and military leader. Born in 1917 in Nong Het, Laos, he became the first Hmong politician to achieve national prominence...
, an important Hmong leader was decorated by the French administration for leading a combined French, Lao, and Hmong force to relieve the Village of Xieng Khoung from a combined Lao and Vietnamese force and saving the French representative in the village.
When the French withdrew from Laos shortly after their defeat in the Battle of Dien Bien Phu
Battle of Dien Bien Phu
The Battle of Dien Bien Phu was the climactic confrontation of the First Indochina War between the French Union's French Far East Expeditionary Corps and Viet Minh communist revolutionaries. The battle occurred between March and May 1954 and culminated in a comprehensive French defeat that...
the Americans, deep into the years of the Domino Theory
Domino theory
The domino theory was a reason for war during the 1950s to 1980s, promoted at times by the government of the United States, that speculated that if one state in a region came under the influence of communism, then the surrounding countries would follow in a domino effect...
became increasingly embedded as their secret replacements. Under the leadership of the General Vang Pao
Vang Pao
Vang Pao was a Lieutenant General in the Royal Lao Army. He was an ethnic Hmong and a leader of the Hmong American community in the United States.-Early life:...
, Hmong forces kept the Pathet Lao and their Vietnamese backers in check, rescued downed American pilots, and helped the US, from their base in the "Secret City" of Long Tieng
Long Tieng
Long Tieng is a Laotian military base located in Xiangkhouang Province. During the Laotian Civil War, it served as a town and airbase operated by the Central Intelligence Agency of the United States...
to coordinate bombing missions over Vietnam. By 1975, with defeat in Vietnam, America had largely withdrawn and the Pathet Lao took control of the government. Hmong people, especially those who had participated in the military conflict were singled out for retribution. Thus began a mass exodus of over 350,000 Hmong refugees, mostly to the United States or to camps in Thailand
Thailand
Thailand , officially the Kingdom of Thailand , formerly known as Siam , is a country located at the centre of the Indochina peninsula and Southeast Asia. It is bordered to the north by Burma and Laos, to the east by Laos and Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the...
.
Of those Hmong people who remained in Laos, between over 30,000 were sent to re-education camps as political prisoners where they served indeterminate, sometimes life sentences. Enduring hard physical labor and difficult conditions, many people died. Thousands more Hmong people, mainly former soldiers and their families, escaped to remote mountain regions - particularly Phou Bia
Phou Bia
Phou Bia is the highest mountain in Laos and is located in the Annamese Cordillera, in the Phou Ane Plateau in Xiangkhouang Province.It is in a restricted military area near the abandoned Long Chen air base, and for this reason sees extremely few outside visitors. Unexploded ordnance further...
, the highest (and thus least accessible) mountain peak in Laos. At first, these loosely organized groups staged attacks against Pathet Lao
Pathet Lao
The Pathet Lao was a communist political movement and organization in Laos, formed in the mid-20th century. The group was ultimately successful in assuming political power after the Laotian Civil War. The Pathet Lao were always closely associated with Vietnamese communists...
and Vietnamese troops. Others remained in hiding to avoid conflict. Initial military successes by these small bands led to military counter-attacks by government forces, including aerial bombing and heavy artillery, as well as the use of defoliants and chemical weapons.
Today, most Hmong people in Laos live peacefully in villages and cities, but small groups of Hmong people, many of them second or third generation descendants of former CIA soldiers, remain internally displaced in remote parts of Laos, in fear of government reprisals. As recently as 2003, there were reports of sporadic attacks by these groups, but journalists who have visited their secret camps in recent times have described them as hungry, sick, and lacking weapons beyond Vietnam War era rifles. Despite posing no military threat, the Lao government has continued to characterize these people as "bandits" and continues to attack their positions, using rape as a weapon and often killing and injuring women and children. Most casualties occur while people are gathering food from the jungle, since any permanent settlement is impossible.
Faced with continuing military operations against them by the government and a scarcity of food, some groups have begun coming out of hiding, while others have sought asylum in Thailand and other countries. In December 2009 a group of 4,500 refugees were forcibly repatriated to Laos from camps in Thailand despite the objections of, amongst others, the United Nations and the USA.
Some Hmong fled to California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
in the United States after the U.S. military
Military of the United States
The United States Armed Forces are the military forces of the United States. They consist of the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force, and Coast Guard.The United States has a strong tradition of civilian control of the military...
withdrew from Vietnam and Laos, ending its wars in Indochina
Indochina
The Indochinese peninsula, is a region in Southeast Asia. It lies roughly southwest of China, and east of India. The name has its origins in the French, Indochine, as a combination of the names of "China" and "India", and was adopted when French colonizers in Vietnam began expanding their territory...
. In June 2005 as part of "Operation Tarnished Eagle" U.S. FBI
Federal Bureau of Investigation
The Federal Bureau of Investigation is an agency of the United States Department of Justice that serves as both a federal criminal investigative body and an internal intelligence agency . The FBI has investigative jurisdiction over violations of more than 200 categories of federal crime...
and anti-terrorism officials allegedly uncovered a "conspiracy to murder thousands and thousands of people at one time" and violently overthrow the government of Laos. The alleged plot included ex-U.S. Army Rangers
United States Army Rangers
United States Army Rangers are elite members of the United States Army. Rangers have served in recognized U.S. Army Ranger units or have graduated from the U.S. Army's Ranger School...
, former Green Berets
United States Army Special Forces
The United States Army Special Forces, also known as the Green Berets because of their distinctive service headgear, are a special operations force tasked with six primary missions: unconventional warfare, foreign internal defense, special reconnaissance, direct action, hostage rescue, and...
and other guns for hire. The plotters were accused of attempting to use rifles, Stinger surface-to-air missiles, anti-tank rockets and other arms and munitions smuggled from the U.S. via Thailand to "reduce government buildings in Vientiane
Vientiane
-Geography:Vientiane is situated on a bend of the Mekong river, which forms the border with Thailand at this point.-Climate:Vientiane features a tropical wet and dry climate with a distinct monsoon season and a dry season. Vientiane’s dry season spans from November through March. April marks the...
to rubble", said Bob Twiss, an assistant U.S. attorney. Lieutenant-Colonel Harrison Ulrich Jack, a retired California National Guard officer who reportedly served in covert operations during the Vietnam War (in Laos in co-ordination with the Hmong and other tribal groups) and former General Vang Pao
Vang Pao
Vang Pao was a Lieutenant General in the Royal Lao Army. He was an ethnic Hmong and a leader of the Hmong American community in the United States.-Early life:...
were named as the probable ringleaders of the purported coup plot. Vang Pao had reportedly built up a strong network of contacts within the U.S. government and corporate circles sympathetic to his cause. Some speculated that the proposed new government would be much more accepting of large foreign business and may also lead to an explosion of the drugs trade as has been the case in Afghanistan
Afghanistan
Afghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...
.
The defendants lawyers argued that the case against all of their clients was spurious at best. "The case cannot proceed [because] the process has been so corrupted by the government's misconduct that there can never be any confidence in the validity of the charge," said Mark Reichel, one of the defense attorneys involved in the case. "[W]hile the [prosecution] tries to portray the 'conspiracy' as a dangerous and sophisticated military plan, it cannot refute the extensive evidence demonstrating otherwise - from the agent's informing the so-called conspirators that they would need an operational plan; to his providing a map of the region when they couldn't procure a useful one; to his explanation of what GPS was (including that it requires batteries); to the so-called conspirators' inability to finance the operation."
On September 18, 2009, the federal government dropped all charges against Vang Pao, announcing in a release that the "continued prosecution of this defendant is no longer warranted," and that the federal government was permitted to consider "the probable sentence or other consequences if the person is convicted.”
Royalist insurgency
Beginning in 1980, the anti-CommunistAnti-communism
Anti-communism is opposition to communism. Organized anti-communism developed in reaction to the rise of communism, especially after the 1917 October Revolution in Russia and the beginning of the Cold War in 1947.-Objections to communist theory:...
, pro-Royalist
Kingdom of Laos
The Kingdom of Laos was a sovereign state from 1953 until December 1975, when Pathet Lao overthrew the government and created the Lao People's Democratic Republic. Given self-rule in 1949 as part of a federation with the rest of French Indochina, the 1953 Franco-Lao Treaty finally established a...
forces organized under the so-called Lao National Liberation Front (LNLF) carried out their own insurgency in southern Laos; such of which had been initiated by a series of reasonably successful guerilla warfare attacks upon its seizure of weapons from the militaries of Laos and Vietnam. In 1982, the LNLF succeeded in briefly establishing the Royal Lao Democratic Government (proclaimed in exile in Bangkok
Bangkok
Bangkok is the capital and largest urban area city in Thailand. It is known in Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon or simply Krung Thep , meaning "city of angels." The full name of Bangkok is Krung Thep Mahanakhon Amon Rattanakosin Mahintharayutthaya Mahadilok Phop Noppharat Ratchathani Burirom...
on August 18, 1982 earlier that year) in a collection of southern Lao provinces largely due to support and aid from the People's Republic of China
People's Republic of China
China , officially the People's Republic of China , is the most populous country in the world, with over 1.3 billion citizens. Located in East Asia, the country covers approximately 9.6 million square kilometres...
, which despite being a communist state
Communist state
A communist state is a state with a form of government characterized by single-party rule or dominant-party rule of a communist party and a professed allegiance to a Leninist or Marxist-Leninist communist ideology as the guiding principle of the state...
like Laos, maintained rather hostile relations with Laos (largely due to Laos' staunch alignment with and unequivocal support for Vietnam
Vietnam
Vietnam – sometimes spelled Viet Nam , officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam – is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea –...
.). During this time, the Lao government had referred to China's ruling clique as "the direct enemy of the Lao people" and further stated that relations could potentially be improved between itself and Thailand
Thailand
Thailand , officially the Kingdom of Thailand , formerly known as Siam , is a country located at the centre of the Indochina peninsula and Southeast Asia. It is bordered to the north by Burma and Laos, to the east by Laos and Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the...
as well as with the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, but gave no mention of a possibility for diplomatic amends with China. Despite allying itself formally in writing with Democratic Kampuchea
Democratic Kampuchea
The Khmer Rouge period refers to the rule of Pol Pot, Nuon Chea, Ieng Sary, Son Sen, Khieu Samphan and the Khmer Rouge Communist party over Cambodia, which the Khmer Rouge renamed as Democratic Kampuchea....
(Cambodia
Cambodia
Cambodia , officially known as the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia...
under the Khmer Rouge
Khmer Rouge
The Khmer Rouge literally translated as Red Cambodians was the name given to the followers of the Communist Party of Kampuchea, who were the ruling party in Cambodia from 1975 to 1979, led by Pol Pot, Nuon Chea, Ieng Sary, Son Sen and Khieu Samphan...
; also communist) during the Third Congress of the Lao People's Revolutionary Party
Lao People's Revolutionary Party
The Lao People's Revolutionary Party is a communist political party that has governed Laos since 1975. The policy-making organs are the politburo and the central committee. A party congress, which elects members to the politburo and central committee, is held every five years...
, allegations would surface that the Khmer Rouge
Khmer Rouge
The Khmer Rouge literally translated as Red Cambodians was the name given to the followers of the Communist Party of Kampuchea, who were the ruling party in Cambodia from 1975 to 1979, led by Pol Pot, Nuon Chea, Ieng Sary, Son Sen and Khieu Samphan...
(closely allied to China, and vehemently anti-Vietnamese) had also been funding and alloting supplies to the anti-communist Royalist insurgents for use in their insurgency against the government of Laos, while the majority of purported support would be divulged during the forever displaced regime's exile along the Thai
Thailand
Thailand , officially the Kingdom of Thailand , formerly known as Siam , is a country located at the centre of the Indochina peninsula and Southeast Asia. It is bordered to the north by Burma and Laos, to the east by Laos and Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the...
border and perhaps to a lesser degree, in Thailand itself during the 1980s. The Royalists had also cooperated and were involved to a limited degree in the attempts to overthrow the Vietnamese-installed puppet regime
Puppet state
A puppet state is a nominal sovereign of a state who is de facto controlled by a foreign power. The term refers to a government controlled by the government of another country like a puppeteer controls the strings of a marionette...
of the People's Republic of Kampuchea
People's Republic of Kampuchea
The People's Republic of Kampuchea , , was founded in Cambodia by the Salvation Front, a group of Cambodian leftists dissatisfied with the Khmer Rouge, after the overthrow of Democratic Kampuchea, Pol Pot's government...
alongside the Khmer Rouge. During the early 1980s, the Khmer Rouge had largely abandoned (or perhaps halted) communist ideals and were instead focused primarily on exuding Cambodian nationalist
Nationalism
Nationalism is a political ideology that involves a strong identification of a group of individuals with a political entity defined in national terms, i.e. a nation. In the 'modernist' image of the nation, it is nationalism that creates national identity. There are various definitions for what...
fervor and an increase in anti-Vietnamese rhetoric.
The Royalist insurgency gradually fell into disrepair and in terms of its 70s and 80s-era form, it has almost entirely vanished militarily as well as ideologically. A correlated movement of sporadic insurgents succeeded the LNLF and while divided into the congruent style of multiple minimally-proportioned bands of insurgents, have been estimated to contain a strength nearing 2,000 to 3,000 men as of the early 1990s.
Right-wing insurgency
A insurgency politically correlative to the Royalist insurgency led by the United Front for the Liberation of Laos (LPNLUF) and minor allied similar groups had also transpired around the same time period, and reportedly was equipped with a strength of 40,000, Chinese and Khmer Rouge funded and trained right-wingRight-wing politics
In politics, Right, right-wing and rightist generally refer to support for a hierarchical society justified on the basis of an appeal to natural law or tradition. To varying degrees, the Right rejects the egalitarian objectives of left-wing politics, claiming that the imposition of equality is...
insurgents who placed their desire to expel Vietnamese political and military standing in Laos above any other goal. While the movement managed to proclaimed their own provisional
Provisional government
A provisional government is an emergency or interim government set up when a political void has been created by the collapse of a very large government. The early provisional governments were created to prepare for the return of royal rule...
or "liberation" government (speedily disbanded by the Lao military), this insurgency proved to be as by chance less effective than the lesser-trained Royalist-focused insurgency. This insurgency has no reported standing in terms of force within Laos today. While its claims have been never been verified nor widely accepted, the LPNLUF claims to have put some one-third of Laotian territory under its provisional jurisdiction before it was put down by the Lao government.
The insurgents of the LNLF were largely former Royalist government officials who had fled into exile after the Kingdom of Laos
Kingdom of Laos
The Kingdom of Laos was a sovereign state from 1953 until December 1975, when Pathet Lao overthrew the government and created the Lao People's Democratic Republic. Given self-rule in 1949 as part of a federation with the rest of French Indochina, the 1953 Franco-Lao Treaty finally established a...
' demise in 1975 in the conclusion of the Laotian Civil War and Vietnam War
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
. The LNLF proved successful in recruiting fair numbers of rural militiamen from Champassak and Savannaket provinces. Individual units varied from as few as ten men to as many as 50, and all of these operated with little coordination.
External links
- FactFinding.org - information about the Hmong veterans of the Secret War remaining in the jungles of Laos (requires Adobe FlashAdobe FlashAdobe Flash is a multimedia platform used to add animation, video, and interactivity to web pages. Flash is frequently used for advertisements, games and flash animations for broadcast...
) - "Acts of Betrayal", by Michael Johns, National Review, October 23, 1995.
- Clips from "Hunted like animals" - a documentary by Rebecca SommerRebecca SommerRebecca Sommer is a German artist, journalist, photographer,documentary filmmaker, and human rights activist. She is therepresentative for the Indigenous Department USA of the Society for Threatened Peoples , an international NGO in special consultative status to theUnited Nations , and in...
on the plight of the Hmong in Laos and problems faced by those facing repatriation from Thai refugee camps