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AFP-Myanmar exiles want resettlemen



Reply-To: "TIN KYI" <tinkyi@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: AFP-Myanmar exiles want resettlement after 11 years in limbo

Myanmar exiles want resettlement after 11 years in limbo
MANEELOY, Thailand, Oct 21 (AFP) - In a camp nestled at the base of majestic
mountain ranges children are playing beneath tamarind trees -- it is a
peaceful scene which belies the turmoil dogging residents of the Maneeloy
holding center.
The Maneeloy camp in Thailand's western Ratchaburi province is inhabited by
exiled Myanmar students and their families who fled a bloody military
crackdown on pro-democracy activists in 1988.

A total of 1,027 dissident students and more than 100 children live in the
camp, set up in 1993 by Thai authorities and the United Nations High
Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

Thirty-seven year old Aung Tun is a typical Maneeloy resident.

The former secretary of the Burmese Students Association fled his homeland
in 1988 fearing persecution by the military after participating in democracy
rallies.

"I have had to abandon my education for 11 years, but I am determined not to
return to Burma until it is a democracy and the universities are reopened,"
he said, using Myanmar's former name.

Aung Tun, his wife and three-month-old daughter now live in a small bamboo
hut in Maneeloy -- a long way away from home in Yangon.

Unmarried students are housed in barrack-like dormitories inside the barbed
wire topped compound.

Aung Tun's hut is a short distance from a guard post, where all visitors
must submit identification and authorisation papers before being granted
access to the camp.

>From the gateway, visitors can see the health clinic and the main UNHCR
office, where students regularly queue to receive their monthly allowance of
800 baht (20 dollars), plus 200 baht for each of their children.

Long-running tensions over the monthly stipend spilled over Monday, when 22
students locked six UNHCR workers in the office for several hours,
provincial officials said.

A UNHCR spokesman said the students had been refused their allowance after
taking part in political demonstrations in Bangkok against the Myanmar
junta.

"Another problem is the fact that we have not been issued with ID cards by
the Ratchburi provincial governor since 1997, so we have a lot of trouble
going to the post office or the bank," said Ba Tha, a senior exiled student.

"Now we only get three day visiting passes for Bangkok, instead of seven
days as had been the case since 1993," he told AFP during an interview
inside the students' own camp office.

The small room is adorned with a small fighting peacock flag -- the symbol
of the Myanmar democracy movement -- and pictures of Nobel peace laureate
and pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi and her father, General Aung San,
a national independance hero.

Students while away their days in the humble office or in nearby
restaurants.

"Most days we get together in restaurants or tea shops to pour over the
daily newspapers and discuss any articles on the pro-democracy movement or
recount our experiences in Myanmar," said Win Hle, a former high school
student from southern Myanmar.

A non-government organisation has begun computer training and vocational
education courses for the exiled students, but many fear their hopes and
dreams are slipping away while they wait for resettlement in a third
country.

"We're really tired of endless protests and campaigns against the junta, to
no avail," Win Hle said.

"We'd like to do more to create democracy in Burma, not just pay lip
service, but the only thing we can do now is keep waiting for a third
country to accept us."

Win Hle and the other exiles may not have long to wait. Bangkok recently
declared it wanted the students out of Thailand as soon as possible.

The announcement earlier this month came after five gunmen, who claimed to
be pro-democracy student activists, seized the Myanmar embassy in Bangkok,
holding 38 people hostage for 25 hours, before fleeing by helicopter.

Two of the gunmen are believed to be former Maneeloy residents, and this,
along with the recent confrontation with UNHCR staff, has reinforced
Thailand's determination to no longer host the students.

After living in limbo for more than a decade, many of the exiles are just as
keen to be resettled so they can finally return to their studies and get on
with their lives.