NDF Statement on Halockani, 13 Sept

[david.buss@xxxxxxxxxx]

For immediate release, 
Bangkok,  13 September 1994.
 
 
        NDF STATEMENT ON HALOCKANI REFUGEE ISSUE
 
The National Democratic Front of Burma (an umbrella organisation of 
non-Burman indigenous ethnic organizations), issued a statement from 
Manerplaw on Saturday 10th September expressing its distress and 
concern over the recent action by the Thai army to pushback to Burma 
6,000 Mon refugees by blocking off assistance to them while they 
remained inside Thailand.
 
The NDF stated that since the New Mon State Party, a member 
organisation of the NDF, was already engaged in a programme of cease-
fire talks, the attack on the Halockani Refugee Camp, on July 21st by 
Slorc troops, which caused the refugees to flee into Thailand should be 
regarded as a serious matter.
 
According to the NDF, the action by the Thai military to block access to 
the temporary camp by UNHCR and NGOs and to withhold relief 
supplies as a means of pressuring the refugees to return to Burma 
before peace has been established would lead not to peace but to 
further tension, instability and insecurity in a wider area. 
 
The Thai 9th military division recently insisted on the expulsion of 
refugees who had been sheltering inside Thailand after the Slorc attack 
on Halockani, referring to an assurance given to them by the local 
Burmese military commander that they would be safe and referring to 
the refugees as ' illegal immigrants'.
 
According to the NDF, "The Mon refugees on the Thai-Burma border 
are there not for economic reasons as has been alleged but because of 
extreme brutality and systematic persecution by the Slorc troops", and 
should be protected by the Thai authorities" according to international 
practices and in consultation with the Mon National Relief Committee". 
 
Drawing attention to the more than 75,000 refugees sheltering inside 
Thailand along the Thai-Burma border, the NDF points out that "the 
issue of Mon, Karen and Karen refugees as closely related to the issue 
of genuine peace and stability" which the member organisations of the 
NDF are working to secure, and for that reason should be treated with 
deliberate care and consideration'. 
 
Full statement attached.
 
 
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                NATIONAL DEMOCRATIC FRONT
                        ***(BURMA)***
 
                Statement on Halockani Refugee Issue
 
 
The nationality resistance :forces of the NDF have always endeavoured 
for the settlement of the long civil war in Burma by political means. 
Some of the NDF members accordingly responded to the overture for 
talks by the SLORC. However, due to the refusal of SLORC to find a 
political solution, there has been no positive development.
 
While the New Mon State Party, a member organization of NDF, had 
been holding talks with the SLORC, at the feasible level, for cease-fire 
and peace, the attack by SLORC troops on Halockani Mon Refugee 
Camp was a serious matter.
 
The arrangement by the local Thai authorities to push back over 6,000 
Mon refugees from Halockani Camp, and the blocking of assistance 
from the UNHCR and the NGOs to them, before peace has been 
established, is a cause for concern and distress, as this can lead to more 
complication, tension instability and insecurity in a wider area. 
 
In fact, the Thai authorities should protect these refugees according to 
international practices and in consultation with the Mon Nation Relief 
Committee. The Mon refugees on Thai-Burma border are there not for 
economic reason as has been alleged but because of extreme brutality 
and systematic persecution by the SLORC troops. 
 
The issue of Mon, Karen, and Karenni refugees is closely related to the 
issue of genuine peace and stability. The NDF has been endeavouring 
to secure, and therefore, it should be treated with deliberate care and 
consideration for a long-term benefit for all concerned and not for short-
term and limited benefit of a few.
 
September 10, 1994              Central Executive Committee