4-JAN-00:KAREN REFUGEES PETITION UN

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Subject: 4-JAN-00:KAREN REFUGEES PETITION UNHCR TO GO HOME(BKK POST)

Bangkok Post, January 4, 2000.
GROUP OF 10,000 KAREN REFUGEES WANT TO GO HOME

  UN refugee agency urged to help

 More than 10,000 Karen in Mae Hong Son are seeking help from the United
Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, to repatriate them with support
from the National Security Council.
	
NSC secretary-general Kachadpai Burusphat said more than 10,000 Karen
refugees at shelters in Ban Mae Kong Kha and Ban Tha Sala in Mae Sariang
district, had asked UNHCR staff who visited the shelters two months ago,
to push for their repatriation to Burma. But the UNHCR representatives 
had  told  them   to   wait.
	
The refugees claimed they should be allowed to return home as they were
not members of the anti-Rangoon Karen National Union (KNU), he said.
	
"Now, the chief of the camp in Ban Mae Kong Kha is gathering the
signatures of Karen war refugees who want to go home. The list will be
submitted to the UNHCR for consideration.
	
"Most of these Karen fled fighting from areas opposite Ban Sop Moei and
some from areas opposite Thong Pha Phum district, Kanchanaburi. We want
to urge the UNHCR to take action swiftly as requested by these people,"
Mr Kachadpai said.
	
He also said authorities concerned have been put on alert for possible
spillover of fighting between Burmese troops and rebels and an influx of
refugees along the northern border, as the annual dry-season offensive
by Burmese troops approaches.
	
The NSC chief said both local administration officials and military
officers have been instructed to provide protection to Thais and, if
necessary, use drastic measures to push back foreign troops.
	
Mr Khachadpai said narcotics trafficking and possible incursions by
foreign troops in the upper north have eased, following deployment of
the Pha Muang Task Force in Chiang Rai, Mae Hong Son and Tak, which is
being supervised by the Naresuan Task Force. He also said the Third
Army's psychological warfare operation against narcotics in the border
areas was progressing well.
	
Mr Khachadpai said the narcotics suppression campaign would be even more
effective once the new structural organisation of the Internal Security
Operations Command (Isoc) is completed.


Bangkok post , Jan 05, 2000
REPATRIATION PLAN HIT SNAG FOR LACK OF CLEAR DESTINATION: 
UN agency has no access to target area     
                                       ---   Post Reporters 
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees yesterday said it
could not repatriate Karen refugees as it had no access to areas in
Burma to which they would likely return.
	
"Access to returnees is a major criterion for voluntary repatriation, as
is a second factor of safety, and with no access, at least not at
present, UNHCR cannot determine whether current conditions meet
acceptable standards of safety," it said. The UNHCR was responding to a
report  that some 10,000 Karen in Mae Hong Son were seeking UNHCR help
to repatriate.
	
"Our staff in that province are looking into the situation at Kong Kha
and Tha Sala camps but issues more fundamental than the movement back
across the border are involved," it said.
	
"They include lack of UNHCR presence in areas of Burma to which the
refugees would likely return," it added.
	
Kachadpai Burusphat, secretary-general of the National Security Council,
earlier said more than 10,000 Karen refugees at the two camps had asked
UNHCR staff who visited them two months ago to push for their
repatriation. But the UNHCR officials had told them to wait.
	
In yesterday's statement, the UNHCR said if refugees wishing to return
submitted signed forms stating their willingness to do so, this would 
fulfil the criterion of voluntariness.
	
But the two other criteria, of access and safety, "would also have to be
met for UNHCR to become involved".
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