[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index ][Thread Index ]

Thai army poised to deport Karen as



Subject: Thai army poised to deport Karen asylum-seekers

Thai army poised to deport Karen asylum-seekers
06:00 a.m. Feb 01, 1999 Eastern
MAE SOT, Thailand, Feb 1 (Reuters) - The Thai military said on Monday it was
poised to deport more than 800 people of Karen descent who had fled from
Myanmar into Thai border camps.

They are ``economic migrants'' who sneaked into Huaykalok refugee camp, in
northern Tak province, last month, said Colonel Chayudhi Boonpan, task-force
commander for the area.

``These newcomers are not people escaping from fighting but are economic
migrants who have sneaked into the country to seek for work. We have to send
them back,'' said Chayudhi.

Nearly 60,000 Karen refugees live in four camps in Tak province, having fled
fighting between Karen National Union rebels and Myanmar government troops.

Chayudhi said the Karen Refugee Committee (KRC) and some non-government
organisations had sought a week's grace to verify if the newcomers were
genuine refugees. If not, they would be deported, he added.

The Thai military also plans to relocate some 30,000 refugees in Tak
province to a new camp deeper inside Thailand, Chayudhi said.

A KRC official said a separate group of almost 3,000 Karen refugees had fled
their homes and were living in bushes along the banks of the Moei River,
which borders the two countries.

``They want to come to Thailand but the Thai army does not allow them in. So
they have to live in the bushes on the Myanmar side of the river but cannot
return to their villages because Myanmar troops have taken over their
villages,'' he said.

A total of 100,000 Myanmar refugees of Karen origin have fled fighting in
their homeland to live in several sprawling camps in Thailand's Tak, Mae
Hong Son and Kanchanaburi border provinces.