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Thais boost security at holding cen



Subject: Thais boost security at holding centre for Myanmar student  exiles 

Thais boost security at holding centre for Myanmar student exiles 

AFP, Bangkok 20 October 1999.   Thai Interior Minister Sanan Kachornprasart
said Wednesday security would be tightened at a border holding center for
exiled Myanmar students. 

The move came after 22 students locked five workers from the United Nations
High Commissioner for
Refugees (UNHCR) inside an office Monday at the Maneeloy holding center for
several hour s in a row
over monthly allowances. 

"They cannot make any more political moves now. We are coordinating with
the UNHCR to reorganise
the Maneeloy centre," Sanan said. 

He said all of the estimated 3,000 exiled students in Thailand must report
to the center in western
Ratchburi province and remain there until they are resettled in a third
country. 

Some 1,100 exiled students currently live at the Maneeloy area and another
1,900 are living in
Bangkok. 

"There will be only one exit and one area for visitors, and officials will
check and strictly control them
when they come out of the camp," Sanan said. 

The interior minister said Thailand had provided humanitarian assistance to
students who fled
military-ruled Myanmar, but authorities would not tolerate any more trouble
from the exiles. 

He said Thai officials would coordinate with the UNHCR to prosecute
students who took part in
Monday's confrontation with the refugee workers. 

Earlier this month Thailand said it wanted all exiled Myanmar students out
of the country, after five
gunmen, who claimed they were pro-democracy students, held 38 people
hostage at Yangon's embassy
before fleeing by helicopter. 

Two of the hostage takers are believed to be former Maneeloy residents. 

"We will try to send as many of them as we can to a third country as soon
as possible, we cannot just
kill them, or jail them like prisoners," Sanan said. 


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