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REPATRIATION SCHEME: Laos refuses to accept Hmong

Published on Dec 13, 2002 Vientiane turns down Chavalit's plan to return 30,000 refugees living in a Saraburi temple Deputy Prime Minister Chavalit Yongchaiyudh's idea to repatriate about 30,000 ethnic Hmong to Laos hit a stumbling block yesterday when Vientiane refused to allow them back across the border.
Chavalit said he had met with Lao ambassador to Thailand Hiem Phommachanh yesterday to discuss the possibility of sending the Hmong people currently housed in Wat Thamkrabok in Saraburi back to Laos.
"We have classified the people living in the temple into two groups - one group is indigenous to Thailand and the others came from Laos," he told reporters.
"The number of people living in the temple has grown to nearly 30,000. I asked representatives from Laos if the country could take some of them back and I plan to take the ambassador to see the temple," he added.
Chavalit's move is seen as something as an about-face after the government told Lao authorities in September that the Hmong would be relocated from Saraburi to Nakhon Phanom and Tak provinces, and not repatriated to Laos. The Thai side made the pledge during a meeting of the Thai-Lao Joint Committee in Vientiane.
About 1,200 Hmong believed to have been involved in anti-Vientiane activities were to be resettled in Tak province's Phop Phra district, which borders Burma.
The remainder of the Hmong, most of whom are currently living on the grounds of a temple, were to be moved to Nakhon Phanom's Ban Na Pho, which was a Lao refugee camp during the Indochina war.
Hiem told Chavalit that Vientiane considered the Hmong in Wat Thamkrabok an internal affair to be resolved by Thai authorities because none of the people in the temple had obtained refugee status from the United Nations High Commission for Refugees.
Laos is not in a position to take responsibility for the Hmong because the official period for refugee repatriation had finished in 2000 after a group of Lao refugees from Ban Na Pho arrived home, Hiem said, and noted that the office of the UNHCR in Laos had already been shut down.
Government officials, meanwhile, expressed confusion over Chavalit's remarks, as the plan to move the Hmong out of Wat Thamkrabok was supposed to have been resolved at the Joint Committee meeting.
The plan to relocate the Hmong within Thailand has encountered difficulties in the form of budget shortages and opposition from communities in Tak province.
The Hmong currently living in Wat Thamkrabok, some of whom fled Laos during the fighting there in the 1970s, have been a headache for Thailand because some of them have been involved in anti-Vientiane movements and narcotics trafficking. Wat Thamkrabok is currently facing crowding problems because the people there have begun to have families.

The Nation

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		MBA is a small business development consulting, "specializing in Increased Services and Profitablity." REPATRIATION SCHEME: Laos refuses to accept Hmong Published on Dec 13, 2002 Vientiane turns down Chavalit's plan to return 30,000 refugees living in a Saraburi temple Deputy Prime Minister Chavalit Yongchaiyudh's idea to repatriate about 30,000 ethnic Hmong to Laos hit a stumbling block yesterday when Vientiane refused to allow them back across the border. Chavalit said he had met with Lao ambassador to Thailand Hiem Phommachanh yesterday to discuss the possibility of sending the Hmong people currently housed in Wat Thamkrabok in Saraburi back to Laos. "We have classified the people living in the temple into two groups - one group is indigenous to Thailand and the others came from Laos," he told reporters. "The number of people living in the temple has grown to nearly 30,000. I asked representatives from Laos if the country could take some of them back and I plan to take the ambassador to see the temple," he added. Chavalit's move is seen as something as an about-face after the government told Lao authorities in September that the Hmong would be relocated from Saraburi to Nakhon Phanom and Tak provinces, and not repatriated to Laos. The Thai side made the pledge during a meeting of the Thai-Lao Joint Committee in Vientiane. About 1,200 Hmong believed to have been involved in anti-Vientiane activities were to be resettled in Tak province's Phop Phra district, which borders Burma. The remainder of the Hmong, most of whom are currently living on the grounds of a temple, were to be moved to Nakhon Phanom's Ban Na Pho, which was a Lao refugee camp during the Indochina war. Hiem told Chavalit that Vientiane considered the Hmong in Wat Thamkrabok an internal affair to be resolved by Thai authorities because none of the people in the temple had obtained refugee status from the United Nations High Commission for Refugees. Laos is not in a position to take responsibility for the Hmong because the official period for refugee repatriation had finished in 2000 after a group of Lao refugees from Ban Na Pho arrived home, Hiem said, and noted that the office of the UNHCR in Laos had already been shut down. Government officials, meanwhile, expressed confusion over Chavalit's remarks, as the plan to move the Hmong out of Wat Thamkrabok was supposed to have been resolved at the Joint Committee meeting. The plan to relocate the Hmong within Thailand has encountered difficulties in the form of budget shortages and opposition from communities in Tak province. The Hmong currently living in Wat Thamkrabok, some of whom fled Laos during the fighting there in the 1970s, have been a headache for Thailand because some of them have been involved in anti-Vientiane movements and narcotics trafficking. Wat Thamkrabok is currently facing crowding problems because the people there have begun to have families. The Nation Terms of Use \| Privacy Notice © 2002, Neeg Magazine P.O.Box 4071 Appleton, WI 54914-4071 (920) 997-9319 All rights reserved. All parts of this service shall not be reproduced in any form without a written consent express to NEEG Magazine, except that an individual may download and/or print of articles for personal use such as reference, non-commercial purpose. Neeg values all writers with deserved knwoledge of their credibility. Thank You.











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