Newsgroups: soc.culture.vietnamese
Date:         Wed, 23 Dec 1992 10:50:15 -0500
              USENET." <VIETNET@USCVM.BITNET>
From:         Nhan Tran <tran@PEORA.SDC.CCUR.COM>
Subject:      NEWS/VN: 3 Vietnamese killed in Cambodia

12/22

LATEST WAVE OF ANTI-VIETNAMESE VIOLENCE IN CAMBODIA CLAIMS THREE

PHNOM PENH (DEC. 22) DPA - Amid a mounting wave of Khmer Rouge guerrilla
attacks, the bodies of three ethnic Vietnamese were found floating down the
Mekong River with their throats slit, a U.N. spokesman reported Tuesday.

The grisly find was made by locals in the northern province of Stung Treng on
December 17.

"The three bodies were in civilian clothes and tied together. Their throats had
been slit," spokesman Eric Falt said.

The men had been reported missing a week ago and UNTAC's civilian police
component is conducting an investigation into the murders, he said.

The attack is the latest in a series against ethnic Vietnamese in Cambodia,
which U.N. investigations have attributed to the radical Khmer Rouge and which
recently prompted a protest from the Vietnamese government.

In October, 14 Vietnamese fishermen were abducted from the southern province of
Koh Kong by Khmer Rouge guerillas, locals later told U.N. civilian police
investigating. The bodies of 11 ethnic Vietnamese, believed to be part of the
group kidnapped were later found near Chomkaloeu village in Koh Kong province.

Later that month eight ethnic Vietnamese were kidnapped near Tonle Sap in
Central Camboida and a local Khmer Rouge commander initially claimed
responsibility and accused four of them of being Vietnamese soldiers.

The Khmer Rouge claims there are 2 million ethnic Vietnamese settlers in
Cambodia as part of Vietnam's plan to colonise the country. They have refused
to comply with Phase II of the Paris peace agreement to disarm and canton 70
per cent of their soldiers on the grounds they believe Vietnamese soldiers to
be still in Cambodia, a claim they have been unable to back up with any
evidence.

----------------------

12/22

FISHERMEN FOUND WITH THROATS CUT

    PHNOM PENH, Dec 22, Reuters - The bodies of three ethnic Vietnamese
fishermen have been discovered floating in the Mekong River in Cambodia, bound
together with their throats cut, a United Nations spokesman said on Tuesday.
    "On the evening of the 17th of December, three bodies were seen floating on
the Mekong river just north of Stung Treng," said U.N. spokesman Eric Falt.
"The three bodies were in civilian clothes and tied together. Their throats
had been slit."
    Falt said the three were all ethnic Vietnamese fishermen.
    The men had been reported missing about one week ago and UNTAC civilian
police were currently conducting an investigation into the murders, the
spokesman, said.
    It is the latest in a series of attacks on Vietnamese living in Cambodia
which United Nations peacekeepers have claimed is largely the work of the
militant Khmer Rouge guerrilla faction.
    The relationship between Vietnamese and Cambodians is historically one of
mistrust and suspicion and fertile ground for rabble-rousing by all Cambodian
political parties.
    In October, 14 ethnic Vietnamese fishermen were taken from coastal Koh Kong
province by two armed Khmer Rouge soldiers. The bodies of 11 Vietnamese
believed to be the victims were later found at Chomkaloeu village in Koh Kong
province.
    U.N police investigators probing the discovery were told by local Cambodian
villagers that Khmer Rouge guerrillas were responsible.
    In the same month, eight Vietnamese fishermen were kidnapped near Tonle Sap
Lake in Cambodia's northwest.
    The Khmer Rouge at first claimed responsiblity for the kidnapping, saying
four of the men were Vietnamese soldiers.
    The head of the U.N mission in Cambodia, Yasushi Akashi, has strongly
condemned racist and bigoted publicity put out by opposition political parties
aiming to gain popular support by fomenting anti-Vietnamese ill-feeling.
    In other developments, an UNTAC investigation into the killing of five
Cambodians who had been shot in the head in the central province of Kompong
Cham this month has produced no leads on the identity of those responsible,
Falt said on Tuesday.
    The investigation, now complete, revealed one of the victims was half
Vietnamese and all had been involved in smuggling motorbikes from Cambodia to
Vietnam.
    "Without eyewitness identification of the killers, the investigation...
could not identify the parties responsible," Falt said.
    Recent investigations by UNTAC's civilian police into similar incidents are
consistently unable to determine the identity of the attackers and bring them
to justice.
    The investigation into another attack on five Cambodians, whose bodies were
found on November 24 in Bavel district of Battambang province has been hindered
by heavy fighting between the Khmer Rouge and Government troops, Falt said.
Newsgroups: soc.culture.vietnamese