THE NATION: Chettha backs call for

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Politics 

      Chettha backs call for
      bigger UNHCR role

      ARMY Commander-in-Chief Gen Chettha
      Thanajaro, completely contradicting the
      Army's official position, threw his weight
      behind a proposal that the United Nations
      High Commissioner for Refugees
      (UNHCR) take care of Burmese refugees
      and be responsible for their resettlement in
      a third nation. 

      In welcoming UNHCR's role, Chettha said
      that under its care, the Burmese along the
      border would be treated as refugees and
      had the right to go to a third country. 

      ''It would be good for Thailand if we no
      longer had to worry about them [Burmese
      refugees] since the UNHCR would be the
      sole body and authorised agency to best
      handle this kind of thing,'' he said after
      briefing Prime Minister Chuan Leekpai
      about the border situation. 

      However, he added, it should be
      understood that refugees, unlike displaced
      people who have to return to their home
      country after wars end, could stay in
      Thailand longer pending their resettlement. 

      His statement, following Chuan's blessing
      on UNHCR's role on Monday, came about
      as talks between the UN body and Thai
      authorities continued about UNHCR's
      mandate in camps, their relocation and the
      merger of the existing 19 camps into 11 in
      order to avoid a spillover in fighting. It also
      marked a complete change in the Thai
      military's stance on the subject. 

      The Thai government, which has run out of
      money to support the refugees, earlier
      regarded them as displaced persons. 

      It also resisted UNHCR's role for fear the
      body's involvement in handling camps
      along the Thai-Burmese border would
      prolong the problem as was the case with
      Cambodian refugees. 

      The UNHCR has long regarded the
      Burmese at Thai border camps as 'prima
      facie refugees' or those who have fled to
      the border of an adjacent country due to
      wars, persecution or forced labour. 

      Tuesday afternoon, UNHCR's Bangkok
      Chief Representative Amelia Bonifacio met
      with Chettha to discuss how to handle the
      refugees. According to deputy chief of the
      Army's Civic Affairs Regiment Maj
      Chongsak Panitchakul, UNHCR's role
      would cover helping Thai authorities screen
      the refugees, providing shelter, food, health
      care and facilitating their return to Burma
      when the conflict ended. 

      Screening to determine genuine refugees
      could become complicated and raise
      humanitarian questions as thousands of
      Burmese there were mostly Karen who are
      sympathetic with the Karen National
      Union's (KNU) fight for autonomy from
      Rangoon. 

      According to UNHCR standards, those who
      are refugees must also be non-combatant
      civilians, the same criteria applied to
      Cambodian refugees. 

      The Thai Army has reportedly begun
      separating men and women before
      relocating them to new camps. Those men
      who are Karen fighters will be pushed back
      into Burma to ensure that Thailand does not
      support any armed insurgency fighting with
      Rangoon. 

      Foreign Ministry spokesman Kobsak
      Chutikul said Tuesday Australian Nick
      Cheesman and Ngamsuk Rattanasathien,
      aid workers for Burma Issues who were
      taken into Burma by Rangoon-backed
      Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA)
      on Friday, would return to Thailand by
      tomorrow. 

      Quoting a report from the Army's Third
      Region, Kobsak said the pair had been
      invited by a senior Buddhist monk, U-Tu
      Chana, to his temple at Myang Kyi Hoo on
      March 29 to see the damage caused by
      KNU offensives and should be back in
      Thailand by tomorrow. 

      The missing volunteers were located in the
      DKBA territory, in the Lan Soy district of
      Burma's Pa-an province. 

      The Nation