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The Nation - UN agency won't punish



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Subject: The Nation - UN agency won't punish students

The Nation - Oct 29, 1999.
Headlines
UN agency won't punish students

THE United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees confirmed yesterday it
will not press charges against the Burmese students who last week held its
officials captive in a payment dispute.

It also said registration for resettlement will kick off next week at
Maneeloy holding centre in Ratchaburi.

''The UNHCR will not press charges against them. We don't do this kind of
thing,'' said the agency's regional representative Jahanshah Assadi during a
rare press briefing.

The briefing was significant since the agency has been relatively quiet
since armed Burmese students took hostages in a raid on the Burmese Embassy
in Bangkok early this month. The silence made the agency a sitting target
for allegations and misunderstandings.

It officially broke its silence in a bid to clarify its policy and stance
regarding the people under its care.

Assadi said he went to the Maneeloy centre and met 27 representatives of the
various groups there to explain his agency's policy and outline the
resettlement programme.

He said the students were quite apologetic about the embassy hostage-taking
and the Oct 18 incident and wished that it would not be construed as a lack
of appreciation of Thailand's hospitality.

Foreign Ministry Surin Pitsuwan earlier said Burmese students living in
Thailand should not abuse the country's hospitality and should make their
time in the country more meaningful.

Assadi said registration for residents of Maneeloy who wish to be resettled
to a third country would begin next week. Though there is no official
deadline, Assadi said the process will last 10 days.

''They have pledged their full cooperation,'' he said, before adding that
according to a straw poll conducted yesterday at the centre, a majority
favoured third-country resettlement.

Eight or nine countries have indicated they would take in these students.
Among them are the United States, Australia, Canada, New Zealand and several
European Union countries.

Assadi also made clear that the exiled students ''should be encouraged to be
more consolidated'' and the Maneeloy centre must be expanded and upgraded to
accommodate the increasing number of residents.

About 1,000 students live at Maneeloy and are registered with the UNHCR as
''Persons of Concern''.

He also hinted that in the near future the population of Maneeloy should be
increased to about 1,500.

The UNHCR has stressed that resettlement is voluntary and that it has
already helped to resettle 2,000 refugees who fled to Thailand from Burma.

However, when asked whether the students would be allowed to undertake
political struggle, Assadi replied that the ''UNHCR is a humanitarian agency
and not engaged in any political actions''.

The embassy takeover, coupled with the locking up of UNHCR officials, had
increased the level of annoyance towards the exiled students among Thais who
viewed them as being ungrateful.

Thai authorities have called on the agency to speed up the resettlement
scheme and wished that all the students be sent to third countries as soon
as possible.


BY VORAPUN SRIVORANART

The Nation