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KAREN REFUGEE COMMITTEE REPORT



                   STATEMENT ON DECISION TO RELOCATE DISPLACED  
                                   PERSONS ON OLD CAMP SITE

The KRC was very heartened by the Thai authorities at a meeting with the Task
Force 34, UNHCR, NGOs and KRC in Mae Sot on the 3rd of February.  At this
meeting, all parties concerned agreed that a safer location should be found
deeper inside Thailand for the Wangkha and Donpakiang camps that had been
attacked and burned down in January of this year.

It is therefore with grave concern that the KRC learned of the decision of
Thai authorities (Deputy Governor of Tak Province, local district officials,
Task Force 34, the MOI, and Border Patrol Police), at a meeting with NGOs on
February 26, that the displaced persons of Wangkha and Donpakiang would not
be relocated to a new location, but instead, consolidated into one camp and
resettled on the site of Wangkha camp, which was razed to the ground in the
fire attack on the night of January 28, this year.  As all concerned know,
Wangkha had come under repeated threats and incursions before the attack.  It
is within an easy range of the mortar from the other side of the border. 
Being located on a flat land, the site can be accessed from every direction
of the compass and, thus, it would be impossible to provide reasonable
security to a camp on it by any measures.

The people from both camps numbering more than ten thousand are currently
living in make-shift shelters with continued threats of further attacks.  The
KRC has been in the process of considering a safer site for them.

Accordingly, the KRC would like to respectfully appeal to the Thai
authorities to reconsider their decision and request the UNHCR,  the
International community and the NGOs to appeal to the Royal Thai Government
to relocate the Karen displaced persons to a safer location, in accordance
with international norms and practices.

March 2, 1997
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