Bkk Post - Quick resettlement of st

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Subject: Bkk Post - Quick resettlement of students sought

Bangkok Post - Oct 20, 1999.
THAI-BURMESE RELATIONS

Quick resettlement of students sought
US, Canada pledge to accept 2,000 from Maneeloy camp

Thailand is pushing for third-country resettlement of Burmese student exiles
after some of them locked up UNHCR officials at the Maneeloy holding centre
in Ratchaburi on Monday.

Don Pramudwinai, the Foreign Ministry spokesman, yesterday said the
students' action was "not different from a mild form of terrorism".

He said the National Security Council will host a meeting of agencies
concerned tomorrow.

On Monday, five officials of the United Nations High Commissioner for
Refugees-one French woman and four Thais-were locked up in their offices for
several hours after some of the Burmese students at the holding centre were
denied their 800-baht monthly allowances because they had left the camp to
join protests against Rangoon's military junta.

They released the officials only after the governor of Ratchaburi, Komet
Daengkomane, paid them out of his own pocket.

Foreign Minister Surin Pitsuwan yesterday said the government found the
Burmese students' action unacceptable, adding they would face more
restrictive measures.

M.R. Sukhumbhand Paribatra, the deputy foreign minister, said yesterday the
UNHCR would have to improve its control system at the Maneeloy centre.

M.R. Sukhumbhand said the student exiles should appreciate the privileges
granted them by the Thai government and must not take advantage of
Thailand's generosity.

But he urged patience, saying the problem of Burmese student exiles in
Thailand could not be solved overnight.

The only way to end the trouble fast was to drive all of them back into
Burma, "but no-one wants to do that", he added.

M.R. Sukhumbhand said yesterday so far 13 countries have shown interest in
accepting Burmese students taking refuge in Thailand for resettlement.

Two of them, the United States and Canada, even pledged to take up to 2,000
of the 2,700 Maneeloy students, he added.

M.R Sukhumbhand said the Foreign Ministry has remained in contact with Burma
despite its decision to close its borders with Thailand following the Oct
1-2 armed seizure of the Burmese embassy in Bangkok by five Burmese
dissidents.

However, he said, talks to settle differences between the two countries have
been difficult because Burma has not said what it wants.

The Foreign Ministry has invited the Burmese deputy foreign minister to
visit Bangkok but there has been no response from him so far.

Niran Kalayanamit, the Maneeloy centre's deputy director, yesterday said
protests against UN officials by Burmese students over their allowances or
medication were nothing out of the ordinary.

The Ratchaburi governor said an investigation panel has been set up to find
out if the locking up of UNHCR officials was a criminal offence.

Governor Komet yesterday denied he had been too lenient with the disgruntled
students by agreeing to pay them, saying he was ordered to do everything
possible to ensure the safety of the five UNHCR officials.

The Maneeloy centre would have to be expanded and its security stepped up,
he said, adding that some 1,000 Burmese students living outside the camp
might be ordered to move back in.

The UNHCR yesterday said in a press release it did not consider the locking
up of the five officials to be a major incident.

However, the event would be fully investigated and the UNHCR would discuss
with Thai authorities measures to prevent it from recurring.