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Myanmar detains 30 Shan deported fr



Subject: Myanmar detains 30 Shan deported from Thailand 

Myanmar detains 30 Shan deported from Thailand 

Kyodo, Bangkok, 7 November 1999.  Myanmar authorities have 
detained 30 members of the Shan ethnic minority after they were deported
from Thailand's border province of Maehongson, a Thai immigration official 
said Sunday. 

Since Saturday, 116 illegal immigrant workers, mostly Shans, have been 
trucked back to Myanmar from the Thai province. The mass deportation 
follows a Thai government directive to repatriate nearly
one million illegal laborers throughout Thailand. 

The 30 people detained in Myanmar are originally from the country's 
northeastern state of Shan. They were arrested Saturday immediately
after crossing the border and entering Ban Namonluang, said a
45-year-old Shan woman who identified herself as Ching. She said 
she had managed to escape the roundup. 

A border control source said the group was detained in a military
camp at Ban Namonluang and will probably be charged for illegal 
migration as the Myanmar government considers the migrants as 
being stateless. They could face up to nine years imprisonment. 

Thai police and immigration officers in several provinces in Myanmar's 
border areas began a crackdown against illegal migrants Wednesday. 
That was the deadline for alien laborers from neighboring countries to o
btain Thai work permits. 

As of the deadline date, about 106,000 unskilled workers from Cambodia, 
Laos and Myanmar were given permission to work in 37 provinces of 
Thailand in 18 business sectors, including agriculture, fisheries, 
construction and mining. Their permits are valid until Aug. 5 next year. 

The repatriation of the nearly one million illegal workers who remain in 
Thailand has become a difficult job because Myanmar sealed all border 
checkpoints with Thailand after a group of gunmen stormed its
embassy in Bangkok in early October and held hostages. 

Making matters worse, Myanmar beefed up its border security after 
learning of Thailand's crackdown against illegal workers. In some areas, 
local authorities are threatening to shoot all people sent back from 
Thailand who enter Myanmar's territory, according to the border source. 

Several hundred migrants from Myanmar have managed to return to 
Thailand after only a few hours of repatriation since they were not 
welcomed in their own country. 

The million-odd migrant workers in Thailand from neighboring
 countries are welcomed by businesses seeking low-cost labor. 
Most are fleeing political and economic trouble at home. 

But now the migrants are seen as a major political problem. Some 
of the 1.4 million Thais who are unemployed claim the migrants take 
jobs away from local people and that their  resence drives down
wages. 

Thailand's minimum wage for unskilled labor ranges between 130 and 
162 baht daily (about 3.5-4.3 U.S. dollars). The foreign workers, however, 
often get a third to half that amount, even though they are supposed to be 
protected by Thailand's labor law. 

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