THE NATION: Authorities to repatria

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Authorities to repatriate 12,000 Karen refugees next month

Reuters

MAE HONG SON - Thailand plans to repatriate 12,000 Karen refugees from its north-western border to Burma next month after reaching an agreement with Burmese authorities, a Thai military source said.

The refugees had refused to be moved from camps in Sobngae village in Mae Hong Son province to another new camp in the province, the source said.

'We have talked with the Myanmar [Burmese] authorities and they have agreed and said they are ready to receive them back.  Our plan is to repatriate them from March 1 to 7,' the source said.

There are a total of about 30,000 Karen refugees now in Mac Hong Son province and the 12,000 are part of that group.  'There are another 70,000 Karen refugees living in neighbouring Tak province.

Since 1984, Thailand has housed a total of about 100,000 Karen refugees, who have fled fighting in Burma between government troops and guerrillas of the rebel Karen National Union (KNU), which is fighting Rangoon for an autonomous state.

Thai authorities suspect that some of the Karen refugees may be involved in illegal logging in the forested provinces and the subject has become a major political issue in Thailand now.

The leader of the KNU, General Bo Mya, denied on Wednesday that the refugees were involved in illegal logging.

'Karen refugees do not get involved in any logging businesses.  But Thai authorities themselves are conspiring with the loggers to chop down trees inside Thailand,' he said.

"They then run them down the Salween River and send it back to Thailand, making it look like the timber was cut inside Myan-mar [Burma]," he said.

Reuters reports from Manila: Thailand would like more than 60,000 Cambodian refugees now in its territory to return home so they could vote m the July 26 Cambodian elections, Thai embassy officials said yesterday.

The return of the refugees was one of the issues discussed ' by Foreign Minister Sunn
Pitsuwan during talks in Manila last weekend with Philippine Foreign Secretary Domingo Siazon and Indonesian Foreign Minister Ali Alatas.

"Thailand would like around 64,000 Cambodian refugees to go back home to Join the election,' a Thai diplomat said.

The Cambodians fled to Thailand to escape factional fighting which led to the ousting of First Prime Minister Prince Norodom Ranarridh by forces loyal to co-Premier Hun Sen.

Thai embassy officials said they did not know any specific timetable for the return
of the refugees to Cambodia.

 The foreign ministers of Thailand, Indonesia and the Philippines said in a statement on Sunday after their Manila meeting that "efforts must be made to allow" the refugees to go back home and take part in the Cambodian polls.

The three ministers comprise the so-called "troika' which the Association of South East Asian Nations (Asean) set up to find a solution to the Cambodian conflict.  Asean also includes Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei, Vietnam, Laos and Burma.