The United States has offered asylum to about 1,000 refugees who fled Vietnam last year for camps inside neighboring Cambodia. 

U.S. Ambassador Kent Wiedemann in Phnom Penh Tuesday said the Vietnamese hill tribe people known as Montagnards will be resettled if the Cambodian government agrees. Cambodia's Foreign Minister Hor Namhong said the U.S. offer is being considered. 

The refugees fled Vietnam's Central Highlands early last year, after security forces cracked down on local protests in support of religious and land rights. An agreement between Vietnam and the United Nations to send them back home has been stalled by accusations from human rights groups that Hanoi is trying to force the hill people to return. 

The Vietnamese government contends the refugees are illegal immigrants, and must be returned. It has not yet commented on the U.S. offer to resettle them. 

An aide to Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen, Om Yentieng, Tuesday said third country resettlement is the best solution to the problem. 

The Montagnards are mostly Christian. Many of them were allied with U.S. troops who fought the communists during the Vietnam War. 

Some information for this report provided by AP and AFP.

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