The Lao military was accused of a horrific campaign to virtually annihilate remaining pockets of Hmong "rebels" in restricted zones in the communist state.

Thailand was also condemned for brutal treatment of Hmong refugees since the beginning of this year, including the jailing of 29 people - mainly women and

children - in "horrible conditions" in Phetchabun police station.

Accusations of gross human-rights abuses were aired by US-based activist Rebecca Sommer, who spoke after showing "rough cuts" from her forthcoming documentary "Hunted Like Animals" at the Foreign Correspondents Club.

The film features interviews with Hmong villagers who accuse Lao troops of murder, gang rape and use of chemical weapons. It reportedly includes footage smuggled out of Laos in recent months.

The German activist, who is based in New York, said the film stemmed from interviews with more than 1,100 people from the "conflict zone". It was aimed at convincing the United Nations to pressure Vientiane to end  its "persecution" of Hmong hiding in small, isolated groups in the Xaysomboum restricted zone.

Sommer claimed that key UN officials such as the Special Rapporteur to Prevent Genocide had shown serious interest in her report and the documentary.

She rejected recent claims by the Thai military that most of the 6,000 Hmong refugees in Phetchabun were "economic refugees who want to go to the US".

"No one is saying they want to go to America. They just want to survive," Sommer said. "They are intimidated on a daily basis by [Thai] police telling them 'you will go back [to Laos]'.

"They have no money. They don't speak Thai or Lao - they're from the conflict zone. There may be people who want to go to the US, but none of the refugees I spoke to ever mentioned going to the US.

"They have been hiding from aerial surveillance [in Laos]. Most of them are not even 'rebels' - they're just villagers who got attacked. They want to have fields to grow crops. And most are not former CIA soldiers [from the Vietnam war].''

Sommer said there may be up to 20,000 Hmong caught in zones targeted by the Lao and Vietnamese for "live military training". But they were afraid to come out because two "test groups" of 173 and 241 people who surrendered over the past year or so had been abused and cut off from contact with UN monitors.

Some of the Hmong women had claimed they were forced to become sex slaves for the Lao troops. And one mother alleged that young girls of nine to 13 years had been "gang-raped to death", Sommer said.

The activist hoped UNHCR chief Antonio  Guterres, who is now in Bangkok, would be able to convince Thai officials not to deport Hmong refugees back to Laos, as they are threatening to do.

She said 29 Hmong, mainly women and children, held in the Phetchabun jail were detained in the dark, with dirty drinking water. "They're sick and have rashes. Plus the children and teenagers seem  mentally broken. We were shocked."

Jim Pollard

The Nation