BBC-Burma complains to Thailand ove

[tinkyi@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]

Reply-To: "TIN KYI" <tinkyi@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: BBC-Burma complains to Thailand over repatriation 

Wednesday, November 10, 1999 Published at 13:01 GMT
BBC-World: Asia-Pacific

Burma complains to Thailand over repatriation

The authorities in Burma have complained to Thailand about what they say are
fabricated reports that Burmese soldiers have raped illegal Burmese workers
being repatriated by Thailand.

In a letter to the Thai foreign ministry, the military government said the
reports in the Thai press were aimed at defaming the Burmese authorities.

Reports in two Thai newspapers this week quoted unidentified sources as
saying that fifteen women deported from Thailand were raped by Burmese
soldiers on Saturday.

A senior Thai police official General Sant Sarutanon accused local employers
of illegal imigrants of spreading false rumours in an attempt to stop the
repatriations and keep their staff. Thailand last week re-started a
programme to repatriate some six-hundred-thousand illegal Burmese immigrants
in Thailand.

>From the newsroom of the BBC World Service