While testifying recently in a U.S Senate hearing, Secretary of State Colin Powell was asked about the alleged abuses by the Lao government of members of the Hmong monorities, who have come out of the jungles to surrender to the Lao authorities.
Mr. Powell said the administration is concerned about the human rights situation in Laos but has not received any evidence of the allegations, adding he will confer with the U.N General Secretary Kofi Annan about the possibility of sending a U.N fact-finding mission to Laos to look into the matter, as requested by Senators Herbert Kohl and Russell Feingold.
Click on our audio file to hear the complete report of Secretary Powell's testimony.