During the investigation into the case of 110 former resistance members at Quang Tri, Bui Quang Uyen, deputy-chief of the province, declared to Team 57 of the International Commission for Supervision and Control in Viet Nam:
“After the cessation of hostilities, the National Government has to keep under observation former resistance members in the areas taken over by the National Army. A list of former resistance members not regrouped to the North was worked out. Consequently, such persons should be arrested at all costs immediately after our arrival, and put under observation so as to ensure security.”
After an enquiry into the massacre of former resistance members in Duy Xuyen district, Quang Nam province, the International Commission gave the following finding:
“After the cease-fire, in the district of Duy Xuyen, former resistance members were separately listed and kept under observation. Former resistance members were asked to declare their former resistance activities, and some of them had thereafter to periodically report to the Security Service. The commission finds that, inasmuch as such measures were applied only to former resistance members, this amounts to a discrimination against them vis-à-vis the rest of the population in terms of Article 14 (c) of the Geneva Agreements” (Ref. IC letter No. IC-FB-3 — 49-3-154 dated February 6, 1959).
Afterwards, the south Viet Nam authorities carried out a ‘differentiation of citizens’. According to that policy, the south Viet Nam population was divided into three categories:
a) ‘Illegal citizens’, or citizens of category A including all peace-loving patriots who stand for the Geneva Agreements in south Viet Nam, and the great majority of whom participated in the Resistance war against the colonialist aggressors;
b) ‘Semi-legal citizens’, or citizens of category B including the relatives and friends of the citizens of category A, and of former resistance members regrouped to north Viet Nam; and
c) ‘Legal citizens’, or citizens of category C, including for the greater part people who fought against the Resistance, and who are now efficient agents of the Ngo Dinh Diem regime.
Of course, such a differentiation led to the application of special measures against ‘illegal and semi-legal citizens’.
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