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Laos

After decades of distant relations with the Lao kingdoms, closer relations between the French military and some Hmong on the Xieng Khouang plateau arose after World War II. There, a rivalry between members of the Lo and Ly clans developed into open enmity, also affecting those connected with them by kinship. Clan leaders took opposite sides; as a consequence, several thousand Hmong participated in the fighting against the Pathet Lao Communists, while almost as many were enrolled in the communist Lao People's Revolutionary Army. In Laos, numerous Hmong genuinely tried to avoid getting involved in the conflict in spite of the extremely difficult material conditions under which they lived during wartime.