latter part of the period under review [1973-1976] circumstances beyond the control of the Baháʼís have hindered the completion of the goals. An administrative committee has been appointed to function on behalf of the National Spiritual Assembly. For a time, the incoming communist government seemed to tolerate Baháʼí activities; Baháʼís in the newly renamed Ho Chi Minh City (previously Saigon) were allowed to hold a commemoration of the Martyrdom of the Báb in July 1976, and following the setbacks of the previous years, a meeting was held the following year to elect a National Spiritual Assembly. Official proscription Beginning in 1978, open practice of the Baháʼí Faith in Vietnam was officially proscribed. Baháʼís were forbidden to meet or to practice their religion, and Baháʼí properties throughout the country were closed or confiscated. Two members of the National Spiritual Assembly who were present when the national headquarters in Ho Chi Minh City was confiscated were arrested and sent to reeducation camps. In a message sent a year later, the Universal House of Justice reported that Vietnam was among "those countries where the Baháʼí Administration cannot operate or has had to be disbanded". Community numbers dropped sharply during this time as thousands of Baháʼís fled the country, arriving as refugees in the United States and other countries, where efforts were made to contact and integrate them into local Baháʼí communities. Baháʼís in a number of countries throughout the world began sending support to those Baháʼís who remained in Vietnam, regularly sending parcels of medicine, clothes and other necessities; some were able to visit the country and meet with Baháʼís personally. The Baháʼís who remained in Vietnam made appeals to the government requesting the permission to practice their religion and the return of confiscated properties, although progress was limited. At the same time, appeals for the release of Baháʼí prisoners continued, through the Baháʼí International Community and a number of governments and independent agencies. In March 1986, a copy of the Universal House of Justice's statement, The Promise of World Peace, was delivered by a messenger to Mr. Bui Xuan Nhat, the Permanent Representative of Vietnam to the United Nations. The 1990s and early 2000s saw conditions improve gradually. In 1990, H. Collis Featherstone, a Hand of the Cause, visited Vietnam, focusing his efforts on "reinvigorating" the Baháʼís there. Beginning in 1992, Baháʼís were allowed to meet in unofficial meeting halls to practice