Burmese refugees flee camp to dodge

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Subject: Burmese refugees flee camp to dodge repatriation


	Burmese refugees flee camp to dodge repatriation
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 By Tofael Ahmed, Associated Press

 COX'S BAZAR, Bangladesh (AP)  Bangladesh sent more than 200
 Burmese Muslim refugees home Tuesday, while at least 1,000
 refugees fled their camps to avoid repatriation. 

 Repatriation officials said 212 people voluntarily returned to Burma
 on Tuesday, but the U.N. refugee agency said they were rounded
 up indiscriminately and forced across the border. 

 "Many of them were distraught, crying and pleading with the
 security forces,'' said Pam O'Toole, spokeswoman of the U.N.
 High Commissioner for Refugees in Geneva. 

 Clashes broke out Sunday and Monday when officials began
 rounding up people to be repatriated, and at least 20 people were
 injured. 

 On Sunday, 180 Burmese Muslims were sent back. Another group
 of refugees is scheduled to be repatriated Thursday. 

 Refugees in the camps said at least 1,000 refugees have fled the
 camps and were hiding in local villages. 

 More than 250,000 Burmese Muslims, known as Rohingyas,
 arrived in Bangladesh in 1991 to escape persecution by the military
 junta in Rangoon. Most have been repatriated under an agreement
 between the two nations. 

 The remaining 21,000 refugees live in camps along Bangladesh's
 southern border. 

(FOXNews, 22 July 1997)

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	News and Information Dept.
	All Burma Students' Democratic Organisation (ABSDO) [Australia]
	Tel/Fax: 61+03+98132613

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