The FULRO insurgents represented the interests of indigenous Muslim and Hindu Cham, Montagnards, and Buddhist Khmer Krom against the ethnic Kinh Vietnamese.

The Cham people under the leadership of the Muslim priest Katip Sumat who had returned from Kelantan declared a Jihad against Vietnam but the rebellion was eventually crushed.

Montagnards began to protest in mass against the South Vietnamese government's colonialism in August 1958, but were harshly-handed by Ngô Đình Diệm's law enforcement forces; many Montagnard leaders were put into jails, such as Y Bhăm Êñuôl, Y Dhơn Adrong, Y Dhê Adrong, Y Nuin Hmok, Y Wick Buôn Ya, Y Het Kpor, Y Tluốp Kpor, Y Sênh Niê, Y Bun Sor, Y Yu Êban, Y Thih Êban, Touneh Yoh, Siu Síp, Paul Nưr, and Nay Luet.

The government also orchestrated assimilation and discrimination policies over the Montagnards, together fueling more distrust and dissatisfaction toward the regime that grew exponential among indigenous communities.

Up until French rule, the Central Highlands was almost never entered by the Vietnamese because they viewed it as a savage (Moi-Montagnard) populated area with fierce animals like tigers, but the Vietnamese expressed interest in the land after the French transformed it into a profitable plantation area to grow crops on,[6] in addition to the natural resources from the forests, minerals and rich earth, and realization of its crucial geographical importance.

[27] The Chinese, Central Highlands Montagnards, Cham, and Delta Cambodians (Khmer Krom) were all alienated by the South Vietnamese government under Diệm.

[29] The South Vietnamese and the NLF (Việt Cộng) assaulted the refugee camps inhabited by Montagnards in Đà Lạt during the Tet offensive.

[32] Y Bhăm Êñuôl brought FULRO to the fore in 1965 while anti-South Vietnamese propaganda was directed towards CIDG troops by FULRO leaflets attacking the Saigon regime and applauding Cambodia for its support since Prince Norodom Sihanouk launched the Indochinese People's conference in March 1963 with Y Bhăm Êñuôl to shed light on the Montagnard situation.

Neither the National Liberation Front (Việt Cộng) nor South Vietnamese were on the side of FULRO which Prince Sihanouk supported after its founding in 1964 from a union of multiple highlander tribals.

[46] The new changes to the economy and living in the Central Highlands provoked the native tribals to started FULRO to resist the South Vietnamese with the aid of Sihanouk.

[47] Y Bhăm Êñuôl established FULRO whose sole common bond and ideology was anti-Vietnamese sentiment, with questionable allegiance to anything else, created in 1964, based in Ratanakiri and Mondulkiri provinces in Cambodia and the Central Highlands in Vietnam of the local mountaineers.

[49] The Cambodian Prince Norodom Sihanouk backed the creation of FULRO which was formed out of a united alliance of South Vietnam's different hill tribal peoples.

[55] The state goal was 'liberation' from oppression suffered by minorities at the hands of South Vietnam and the Montagnards, Chams, and Khmers were all asserted to be spoken for by FULRO.

[62] While in Cambodia at FULRO headquarters, Y Bhăm Êñuôl had his family moved into Mondulkiri's Krechea via Vietnam's Daklak and Ban Don areas.

[63] After Colonel Freund agreed to capitulate and turn over a base to the South Vietnamese, the Montagnards in the Buon Sarpa unit were greatly displeased and discontent.

[66] The FULRO organizations was backed by Prince Sihanouk of Cambodia, anti-Vietnamese, and anti-American Frenchmen, it was attempted to be used against the Việt Cộng's NFL by the Americans due to their animosity towards Vietnamese.

[72] Lon Nol backed FULRO hill tribes, and in South Vietnam and Cambodia's frontier region he fought a proxy war against the NLF via Khmer Krom detachments as he desired to emulate Van Pao.

[74] A 'liberated area' served as the base for the chiefs of FULRO, making their goals unclear, being an organization founded by Montagnards, Cham, and Khmer Krom and mounted an uprising against South Vietnam as they operated in Cambodia near Daklak in the Central Highlands.

[10][78][79] The South Vietnamese government made only symbolic, useless concessions to ethnic minorities in order to stop FULRO from gaining support.

Prince Sihanouk's administration in Cambodia guided FULRO with anti-SEATO, anti-American ideology and in 1965 FULRO released maps showing that their ultimate goal was for Montagnard and Cham independence within a revived new Champa state and for Khmers to retake Cochinchina, corroborating the statement Notre but est de défendre notre survie et notre patrimoine culturel, spirituel et racial, et ainsi l'Indépendence de nos Pays, which was found in their declaration which also claimed that ethnic minorities were being subjected to genocide at the hands of the South Vietnamese, calling for the Montagnards, Khmer Krom, and Cham to unity in FULRO under the direction of their Haut Comité on 20 September 1964.

[85][86] Concessions for ethnic minority rights were issued after the South Vietnamese government was forced by the FULRO insurgency to address the problem under Front for the Liberation of the Highlands of Champa (Mặt Trận Giải Phóng Cao Nguyên Champa) and FULRO led by Les Kosem and with the help of the intelligence agency and military of Cambodia under Prince Norodom Sihanouk.

After being wounded in battle he quit his military career after seeking the permission of Les Kosem himself and went to France to be educated and serve FULRO in a civilian capacity.

[89] FULRO tried to create a sovereign and self-governing Central Highlands through insurgency against the South Vietnamese for a decade while based in Cambodia's Mondulkiri province with support from Prime Minister Lon Nol of Cambodia, led by Cham Lieutenant Major Les Kosem and Rhade leader Y Bhăm Êñuôl but when the Khmer Rouge came to power, they attacked FULRO.

Frustrated with these grievances, the anticommunist faction of the FULRO reportedly negotiated an arrangement with US officials to continue waging guerrilla warfare against the Hanoi government after the fall of South Vietnam.

Assault rifles, carbines, rockets, grenades, and ammunition were among the weapons the remaining Montagnard FULRO fighters had in their possession when they gave up the struggle and turned them over to the United Nations in 1992.

Vietnamese government workers were attacked in their offices and houses by guerrilla detachments of FULRO fighters originating from Cambodia and mountain regions.

In the provinces of Daklak, Kon Tum, and Gai Lai, Vietnamese garrisons of soldiers and police were assaulted by the Koho, Rhade, Jarai, and Bahnar FULRO fighters.

[98][108][109] Anti North-Vietnam Laotian Hmong rebels and the anti-South Vietnamese FULRO both received support from China and Thailand to fight against the Communist government of unified Vietnam.

[116] In the northeast area of Cambodia raids were conducted by combined FULRO forces and Cambodian guerrillas fighting against Vietnam from Preah Vihear.

The United States under President Barack Obama, because of its anti-China policy and trying to lure Vietnam as an ally to the US against China, has been accused of deliberately ignoring this.