Hanoi says tackling unrest in northern province
06:14 a.m. Aug 07, 1997 Eastern

HANOI, Aug 7 (Reuter) - Vietnam said on Thursday it
was taking steps to restore stability in a northern
province following months of unrest there and said
local officials were being punished.

A foreign ministry spokesman told journalists at a
news briefing that problems in Thai Binh province,
where thousands of people have been involved in
protests since May, were the fault of low-level
officials.

``The leaders of the province have taken some
measures to punish cadres at the grass-roots level,
and measures are taking place to stabilise the
situation,'' the spokesman, Tran Quang Hoan, said.

Hoan gave few details but said there were signs
that local officials ``had some non-transparent
activities for projects for rural development.''

News of the problems in Thai Binh province, some 80
km (50 miles) southeast of Hanoi, surfaced in May
when several thousand residents converged on the
province capital to protest against new tax demands
and alleged corruption.

Last month new details emerged, indicating the
problem had become far more serious than earlier
thought. Residents said local officials had been
evacuated from the area after the houses of several
of them were razed to the ground and other
officials beaten.

They said security forces had been sent in but had
failed to bring the situation under control until
shortly before the July 20 parliamentary elections,
when more than 100 alleged troublemakers were
rounded up for punishment.

The current situation in Thai Binh remains unclear
and foreign journalists and non-government workers
have not been able to visit.

Hoan was asked to confirm reports of similar
troubles in three nearby provinces, Hung Yen, Thanh
Hoa and Nghe An, but he declined to comment.

He also declined to comment on what form of
punishment had been levied on the Thai Binh
officials, but referred to the decision to take
measures against them by saying, ``I think this is
also the crucial demand from the populace.''

Violent protests in Vietnam are believed to be rare
and are rarely reported by the state media when
they do occur.

Diplomats in Hanoi say the issue has presented
Vietnam's communist government with the complex and
sensitive question of how to tackle serious unrest
among a rural population traditionally viewed as a
sturdy pillar of support. ^REUTER@