Group of 10,000 Karen wants to go h

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Subject: Group of 10,000 Karen wants to go home

Group of 10,000 Karen wants to go home
UN refugee agency urged to help
Bangkok Post ? 4 January 2000
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.

Surayud surveys Khun Sa's disputed turf
Risk of conflict is remote, he says

Sermsuk Kasitpradit
Mae Ai, Chiang Mai
Bangkok Post ? 4 January 2000
The army chief visited a border outpost overlooking Doi Lang to survey the 
disputed area straddling the Thai-Burmese border yesterday.
While at Giew Hoong, Gen Surayud Chulanont was briefed on the security 
situation in the area by Lt-Col Chainarong Kaewkla, chief of the 3rd Cavalry 
Regiment's 15th battalion.
The army chief said later he was confident conditions around Doi Lang would 
not lead to an armed conflict because there is now good understanding 
between Thai and Burmese troops deployed in the area.
Gen Surayud urged border security forces to try to cultivate and maintain 
good relations with their Burmese counterparts across the border.
Burmese soldiers are now allowed to cross the border every morning to buy 
food from villagers. Senior officers on both sides are occasionally seen 
having dinner or playing takraw together on a neutral ground.
Thousands of Thai and Burmese soldiers have been deployed around Doi Lang 
since 1996 following the Rangoon military junta's attempt to claim the area 
after Khun Sa, former leader of the Mong Tai Army and heroin kingpin, 
surrendered to Rangoon earlier in the same year.
The disputed area, once under the control of the Mong Tai Army, is known 
generally as Doi Lang and includes sev eral other hills such as Doi Laem, 
Doi Song Jik, and Doi Mark Lang.
Gen Surayud yesterday also said the development of Mong Yawn, the southern 
military command headquarters of the amphetamine-producing United Wa State 
Army, had been seriously hampered by the closure of the San Ton Du border 
checkpoint in Chiang Mai province.

Mailbag
The Nation ? 4 January 2000
Give them hope, dear Thailand
I AM deeply concerned about news of the Burmese migrant workers in your 
country. Many of them have fled from Burma to escape violations of their 
human rights by the military government there. I got news that your 
government has deported these Burmese migrants back to Burma before they 
have had the opportunity to seek asylum and before their safety can be 
guaranteed. International organisations like Amnesty International fear that 
these people are in danger when they are deported back to Burma. So I ask 
you to make sure that any person that has been sent back to Burma will have 
to be guaranteed safety unless they really cannot be granted political 
asylum in your country.
Furthermore I was informed that these Burmese migrants are being detained in 
your country under poor living conditions. For eight years, Amnesty 
International has proved the poor conditions in the camps run by the Thai 
immigration authorities. They are overcrowded, unhygienic, and people are 
not properly supplied with medicine and food. I urge you to make sure that 
the conditions in those camps conform to international standards of 
detention.
I'm sure that a country like the Kingdom of Thailand, which is so popular 
with tourists and is said to be a very beautiful country with a friendly and 
hospitable population, can't afford to have an international reputation of 
treating migrants in such a contemptuous way. So please make use of all your 
influence and power to help these people get a human and dignified 
treatment.
Huging
BANGKOK


Mailbag
Give them hope, dear Thailand
I AM deeply concerned about news of the Burmese migrant workers in your 
country. Many of them have fled from Burma to escape violations of their 
human rights by the military government there. I got news that your 
government has deported these Burmese migrants back to Burma before they 
have had the opportunity to seek asylum and before their safety can be 
guaranteed. International organisations like Amnesty International fear that 
these people are in danger when they are deported back to Burma. So I ask 
you to make sure that any person that has been sent back to Burma will have 
to be guaranteed safety unless they really cannot be granted political 
asylum in your country.
Furthermore I was informed that these Burmese migrants are being detained in 
your country under poor living conditions. For eight years, Amnesty 
International has proved the poor conditions in the camps run by the Thai 
immigration authorities. They are overcrowded, unhygienic, and people are 
not properly supplied with medicine and food. I urge you to make sure that 
the conditions in those camps conform to international standards of 
detention.
I'm sure that a country like the Kingdom of Thailand, which is so popular 
with tourists and is said to be a very beautiful country with a friendly and 
hospitable population, can't afford to have an international reputation of 
treating migrants in such a contemptuous way. So please make use of all your 
influence and power to help these people get a human and dignified 
treatment.
Huging
BANGKOK

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