South of Manmethout at Buon M'Bre, U. S. engineers cleared substantial land for Montagnards who resettled last October. But when they arrived at Buon M'bre, Vietnamese had already begun to move onto their land.

At Buon Kli B, with nearly 7000 people - the largest resettlement site in Darlac Province - population pressure and advancing Vietnamese farmers leave the Montagnards with only a fraction of the land required to sustain themselves. Before the move, Vietnamese province officials planned to allot only two-tenths of a hectare to each family. But U. S. social welfare advisers estimate that a minimum of two hectares is needed to sustain a Montagnard family.

ONE THOUSAND hectares of cleared land near the resettlement site is already being farmed by 100 Vietnamese farmers with tractors. The Vietnamese district chief has said that the Vietnamese will have to evacuate this land in 1972, but the Montagnards need land for the planting season which is about to begin.

The land squeeze is forcing relocated Montagnards to choose between cultivating parcels of land too small to support them, trying to walk long distances to find more land, or looking for employment elsewhere. At Buon Nie Ea Sar, a local resident said that the people have an average of one-half to one hectare per family, and that most families were not getting enough to eat. At Buon Kli B, Montagnard farmers report having to walk as far as ten kilometers to find land.

Others have lost hope of being able to support themselves as farmers and have sought employment on French-owned tea plantations near Banmethuot, Both U. S. and Montagnard observers think it is only a matter of time before the Montagnards clustered near Route 14 begin to work for the Vietnamese farmers in Halan and further south. Already, Montagnards from Buon Ale A and B near Banmethuot are picked up by truck every morning to work for Vietnamese farmers in the area.

One educated Montagnard remarked bitterly that the relocation centers in Darlac surrounded by Vietnamese-occupied land "look like Indian reservations." He suspects that Vietnamese policy is aimed at making rural proletariat out of relocated Montagnards, noting that in Lam Dong Province as well, Vietnamese relocated Montagnards near a tea plantation. "They will have to sell their labor in order to survive," he said. "It will be a kind of slavery."

U. S. Land Reform officials have been particularly critical of the relocation, which they fear will nullify a Vietnamese government program intended to protect Montagnard hamlet land against encroachments by Vietnamese. The purpose of the "hamlet identification program" is to define the "living area" of each Montagnard hamlet, and thus make it legally inviolable.

(A dispute between Montagnards and Mrs. Nguyen Ky over claims to 3,700 acres in another Central Highland province was reported by A. P. in January. Mrs. Ky says the land is "public domain" while the Montagnards argue they should regain the land after it is retaken from the Viet Cong.)

The Vietnamese Directorate General of Land Affairs has now approved the principle that Montagnard hamlets which are relocated may choose to have legal title to their old hamlet land. However, U. S. officials think this right may be meaningless if Montagnards are forced to remain in relocation centers for years while Vietnamese continue cultivating their former land. "Why should we be so wishful as to think the Vietnamese will get off the land they are on now, even if the Montagnards have a legal title?" says one concerned official.

Asked about the possibility of Montagnards reclaiming their former lands in the future, Henry Sandri, Deputy Director of the Office of Development Operations at CORDS Regional Headquarters in Nhatrang, replied, "They can file a claim anytime, but security will determine whether and when they can go back." But he confessed that he did not understand why Vietnamese farmers were farming in areas which Montagnards had been forced to leave for reasons of security.

Deputy Senior Adviser Bartley says that relocated Montagnards in Darlac "are reacting to the move as though it is permanent. The longer they stay there the less they will want to go back to the old buons." But a Montagnard leader in Banmethuot vehemently disagrees. "All of them want to go back," he says. "There they had very good land. Here they can't do anything."

( Copyright 1971 Dispatch News Service International )