BANGKOK, Thailand – The last surrender of the Vietnam War began over the weekend, when nearly 200 family members of the CIA’s Hmong mercenaries in Laos emerged from the forest and handed themselves over to the authorities.

For the past three decades, the Hmong have waged a low-level insurgency and a continuous battle for survival in the face of operations by the communist Lao authorities.

Now they have effectively decided to give up the fight, exiles said, if they can be assured of humane treatment.

The first group of women, children, and elderly men arrived at a village on Highway 7, in the north of the landlocked country, after a walk of several days.

The move followed weeks of rumors in the capital of Laos, Vientiane, and claims of secret negotiations for an end to a conflict.

No soldiers were in the village when the first group reached the roadside, and they were warmly welcomed, according to Ed Szendrey, of the pro-Hmong, California-based Fact Finding Commission, who accompanied the last stage of their walk from the Xaisomboune Special Zone, an inaccessible region where foreigners are banned.

“It looks like the government is prepared to handle it on the local level and not get the military involved,” he said by satellite telephone. “It looks like the Lao government is actually handling it pretty well.”

During America’s “secret war” in Laos – part of the wider Vietnam conflict – American, Vietnamese, and Chinese forces all fought over the country, with members of the impoverished Hmong hill tribe forming the core of the CIA’s opium-funded “Secret Army.”

Hundreds of thousands of Hmong fled Laos before and after the communist victory in 1975, many going on to America, where they have formed substantial communities in cities ranging from Long Beach in California to Minneapolis.

Many who could not escape took refuge in the mountains, where they refused to abandon the fight until now.

In the next few days, as many as 2,000 more Hmong will follow the first group, at various locations in the mountainous, landlocked country, according to senior exiles. If all goes well, the remaining Hmong, claimed to number 14,000, will join them, they said.

“They just want to live a peaceful life there,” Ger Vang, of the Fact Finding Commission, said. He said the refugees included a second generation of children who had grown up in the forest and were facing starvation.

The commander of the secret army, General Vang Pao, who made a fortune from opium during the war and is now an exile in America, has backed the final surrender. “I truly believe that upon creating the proper environment inside Laos, the Hmong can live in peace and without discrimination,” he said.

Laos is one of the world’s five remaining communist dictatorships. The Lao authorities insist that there are no rebels in the country.

The Lao foreign ministry spokesman, Yong Chanthalangsy, explained the weekend’s developments as part of the normal movement of thousands of people from remote areas to the plains as part of a poverty-reduction program.