Countries open to receiving exiled

[BurmaWatch@xxxxxxx]

Subject: Countries open to receiving exiled Myanmar students

Countries open to receiving exiled Myanmar students

 .c Kyodo News Service  

  
BANGKOK, Oct. 28 (Kyodo) - At least eight or nine countries are open to 
receiving exiled Myanmar students in Thailand for resettlement, an official 
of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said Thursday. 

Jahanshah Assadi, a UNHCR regional representative, said interested countries 
include Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United States and some from 
Europe. 

Thai authorities have urged the UNHCR to speed up procedures for resettling 
in third countries thousands of exiled Myanmar students following the Oct. 
1-2 incident where five armed men, believed to be Myanmar students, broke 
into the Myanmar Embassy in Bangkok and held 38 people hostage for 25 hours. 

Assadi told a news conference the majority of Myanmar students he talked to 
during a trip to Maneeloy camp were interested in resettling in third 
countries. 

Assadi said those who did not express interest ''may feel uncomfortable 
living in strange cultures in Western countries.'' 

Thousands of Myanmar students fled to Thailand to seek asylum after the 
military government started a crackdown in 1988. About 2,700 students are 
registered as ''people of concern'' with the UNHCR and of that number about 
1,000 are living in Maneeloy camp in Ratchaburi Province, 100 kilometers west 
of Bangkok. 

About 800 students live outside the camp but still maintain contact with the 
UNHCR, while the remaining 900 are unaccounted for, Assadi said. 

He said 2,000 students from Myanmar have been sent to third countries for 
resettlement since 1988. 

Assadi said Thai Foreign Minister Surin Pitsuwan suggested during a meeting 
Wednesday that qualified exiled Myanmar students be placed at Thai 
universities. 

AP-NY-10-28-99 0955EDT