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Witnesses say Cambodian police use batons in U.N. camp

PHNOM PENH - Police in Cambodia used electric shock batons to subdue asylum seekers from Vietnam during a visit by Vietnamese officials to a U.N. refugee camp, rights activists and witnesses said on Saturday. The incident, which occurred on Friday, coincided with a diplomatic storm over the fate of some 1,000 Vietnamese hilltribe people in camps in Cambodia after the two countries announced on Friday that all must be repatriated by April 30.

Witnesses from the camp, in Cambodia's northeastern Mondulkiri province, told Reuters the incident occurred after one of the Vietnamese delegates asked a group of asylum seekers if they would return to Vietnam voluntarily. When the asylum seekers rose to their feet shouting they would not go back, a Cambodian police officer used his electric baton on several of them, one witness said. The camp is home to more than 500 ethnic minority people who fled Vietnam's restive Central Highlands last year after the Hanoi government sent troops to quell protests over land rights and religious freedoms.

An adviser to the U.S.-based Montagnard Foundation, which monitors events at the camps on the Cambodia-Vietnam border, told Reuters he had received credible reports that nine hilltribe asylum seekers had had electric shocks and six others beaten. "It's deplorable. The (U.N. refugee agency) certainly don't seem to have much control of the situation," Australian lawyer Scott Johnson said by telephone from Perth.

Mondulkiri police chief Reach Samnang confirmed security was tight during the visit and said armed officers were carrying electric batons but did not use them. "I deny it. The information is really exaggerated," he told Reuters by telephone. United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) officials in Phnom Penh and at the camp refused to comment. Many of the hilltribe asylum seekers who fled to Cambodia say they fear persecution if they return to Vietnam.

The United States, which took in nearly 40 asylum seekers last year, has said the April 30 return deadline violated an earlier voluntary return agreement struck between the UNHCR and the two governments. Hilltribe communities in the Central Highlands have long been the object of suspicion in Vietnam because of their Christian faith and allegiance to U.S. forces during the Vietnam War.

Reuters - February 24, 2002.


Deadline set for return of Vietnam asylum seekers

PHNOM PENH - Hanoi and Phnom Penh have agreed on an April 30 deadline to repatriate more than 1,000 asylum seekers who fled to Cambodia from Vietnam's restive highlands last year, a top police official said on Friday. The deadline was disclosed during a visit by Vietnamese officials to a United Nations refugee camp in Cambodia's northeastern Mondulkiri province, where some 500 people have been living since fleeing a crackdown by Hanoi.

"The two sides have agreed in principle to send all of the (hilltribe people) back before April 30," said Mondulkiri provincial police chief Reach Samnang. "They sent this message to the UNHCR (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees) and are waiting for a response," he told Reuters by telephone. Hanoi, Phnom Penh and the UNHCR signed a tripartite agreement last month to begin the voluntary repatriation of asylum seekers, but the plan was severely criticised by U.S. and human rights groups for lacking adequate safeguards for returnees. The ethnic minority asylum seekers are under U.N. protection in Cambodia after fleeing a crackdown on protests over land rights and religious freedom in the Central Highlands last year.

News that Vietnamese officials were to visit the camp on Friday earned the ire of United States Ambassador to Cambodia Kent Wiedemann, who said it was disturbing that Hanoi had access to the camps. Some among the first batch of mainly Protestant minorities sent home to Vietnam from Cambodia under the controversial repatriation plan this week have said they were still worried about their safety. Wiedemann told Reuters he would seek verification from the Cambodian government regarding the new repatriation deadline. "Setting an arbitrary deadline is not consistent with the agreement and international conventions," he said. UNHCR officials could not be contacted for immediate comment on the deadline.

No punishment

Vietnam's ambassador to Cambodia, Nguyen Duy Hung, and provincial authorities from the Central Highland's province of Dak Lak were escorted to the U.N-administered refugee camp on Friday by Cambodia's Chief of National Police Hok Lundy. Mondulkiri Governor Tor Seuth said the Vietnamese spent four hours addressing the asylum seekers and speaking with UNHCR representatives on Friday. "The Dak Lak governor told the refugees that Vietnamese authorities will not harass or punish them if they return, and authorities will return their land and homes," Tor Seuth told Reuters by telephone.

Last year Hanoi accused Washington of interfering in Vietnam's internal affairs after the United States resettled the first 38 hilltribe asylum seekers who fled to Cambodia. The U.S. has since said several times that resettlement should remain an option. Hilltribe communities in the Central Highlands have long been suspect by Hanoi because of their Christian faith and allegiance to U.S. forces during the Vietnam War.

By Kevin Doyle - Reuters - February 22, 2002.