Obama to Make, and Face, History in Laos

When President Barack Obama sets foot in Laos next week he will mark a new experience for an American president, but he will also come face-to-face with some old problems.

Obama will become the first president to visit Laos when he attends a meeting of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in the capital Vientiane.

While the ASEAN summit will undoubtedly focus on current issues, Obama is likely to face the ghost of Sombath Samphone and the remains of the U.S. Secret War in Laos.

Sombath, a U.S.-educated activist focusing on rural development, went missing in Vientiane on Dec. 15, 2012.

Even though there is video footage of Sombath’s Jeep being stopped at a police checkpoint that shows Sombath being herded into a white truck and taken away, the Lao authorities have arrested no one and there is little indication a serious investigation ever took place.

While Sombath was generally apolitical, just before his abduction he challenged massive land deals the government had negotiated that left thousands of rural Laotians homeless with little compensation.

The deals sparked rare popular protests in Laos where political speech is tightly controlled.

Sombath’s wife Ng Shui Meng, during an Aug. 31 conference in Bangkok, appealed to Obama and U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to take the “opportunity to raise issues on Laos’ human rights record and other basic rights including opening civil society space for greater people’s participation.”

She also appealed to Obama and Ban to take up the issue of Sombath’s disappearance.

“On a personal level, I also hope President Obama and Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and other ASEAN leaders will directly ask the Lao leaders about the fate of Sombath,” she said. “Will the Lao leaders brush off the queries by resorting to the standard response that the police are still investigating? I don’t know, but I hope not.”

Full story: rfa.org

Reported by Ounkeo Souksavanh for RFA’s Lao Service. Written in English by Brooks Boliek.