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Bangkok post -Jan
04, 2000
THAI-BURMESE
RELATIONS Group of 10,000 Karen wants to go homeUN 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. |