New exodus of Montagnards sparks talks between Vietnam, Cambodia
PHNOM PENH - Cambodia will send a delegation to Vietnam to discuss
the exodus of ethnic Montagnards after 67 more crossed into eastern
Cambodia over the last month, officials said Tuesday.
Colonel Reach Samnang, chief of police in eastern Mondul Kiri
province, told AFP by telephone that since September 3, 67
Vietnamese ethnic Montagnards had arrived in the province in the
hope of winning political asylum.
Some 503 people, including 176 children, have now made the illegal
crossing from Vietnam's restive central highlands, he said.
Cambodian police chief General Hok Lundy said he will lead a
delegation to Hanoi next week for discussions with Vietnamese
officials on how to halt the flood of displaced people.
"I just got an order from the government asking me to seek a
solution to solve this problem as soon as possible with Vietnam,"
Hok Lundy said.
"We will deport whomever we find entering the country illegally."
Vietnam last week hailed an agreement reached with Cambodia to step
up security along their border to prevent the crossings from the
troubled region.
Under the memorandum of understanding signed in Phnom Penh last
week, the two sides "pledged to enhance their coordination in ...
security maintenance along their common border line, thus
preventing illegal border crossings," the Vietnamese official VNA
news agency said.
Relations between the two governments soured earlier this year
after Cambodia granted refugee status to hundreds of fugitives from
a Vietnamese army crackdown launched in February against a wave of
protests among the highlands' indigenous minorities.
Vietnam had demanded the immediate repatriation of the fugitives on
the grounds they had crossed the border illegally.
But Cambodia allowed a first group of 38 to be resettled in the
United States and permitted the United Nations High Commissioner
for Refugees to set up a makeshift camp on the border which now
houses more than 500 Vietnamese refugees.
Cambodian officials say minority highlanders are continuing to
cross the border at a rate of around 10 a week, although not all
are recognized as refugees by the UNHCR.
Talks on the voluntary repatriation of the refugees broke down in
July after Vietnam refused UNHCR staff free access to the highlands
to assess the situation on the ground.
Rights groups have warned that the fugitives face retribution if
they are returned home after protests across four provinces which
rocked the communist authorities.
Agence France Presse - October 2nd, 2001
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