National Assembly Approves Brou As New Ethnic Minority Group
Source: KPL
The National Assembly has approved the Brou as an official ethnic group of the Lao PDR. As a result, the country now has 50 ethnic groups.
The approval of the Brou as an ethnic group was voted by members of the National Assembly at the ongoing 6th Ordinary Session of the National Assembly’s 8th legislature on Wednesday, Dec 5.
The majority of Brou people live in Savannakhet province with some residing in neighbouring provinces.
The Brou settled mostly along waterways. Traditionally they live in small houses that are built on stilts. The houses are arranged around a central meeting building around a circle.
The Brou (which literally means “people living in the woods”) are an ethnic group living in Laos, Thailand and Vietnam, according to Wikipedia.
They are also close ethnically to Pnongam peoples of Southern Vietnam/Eastern Cambodia.
Despite kinship with this group, the Brou are different politically and historically from this other ethnic group.
The Brou are also often associated with the Lung, Kravet and Kreung peoples because these four people groups speak similar languages and have similarly developed cultures.
The Brou speak Brou, a Mon–Khmer language, which has several dialects. Their total population is estimated at 129,559.
