Vietnamese refugees in Cambodia may be repatriated soon
PHNOM PENH - The first voluntary repatriation of ethnic minority
people who fled unrest in Vietnam to Cambodia last year could take place by
the weekend, United Nations refugee agency officials said on Wednesday.
Over 100 of the 1,084 hilltribe people being held in two U.N. camps in
Cambodia had volunteered to return home, they said. They fled a crackdown by
Hanoi on ethnic minority protests in the Central Highlands last February.
Nikola Mihajlovic, head of liaison for the Cambodia office of the United
Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, said it was not yet decided if all
would return in one batch.
Refugee agency staff would arrive in Cambodia on Thursday to brief potential
returnees on conditions they observed in some hilltribe homes and villages
during a three-day visit to the Central Highlands this week, Mihajlovic
said.
"One hundred and nine are signed up for the repatriation but we don't know
how many will go. They are free to choose if they will return home,"
Mihajlovic told Reuters by telephone.
The United Nations, Vietnam and Cambodia agreed last month on a framework
for the voluntary return of Vietnamese hilltribe asylum seekers in Cambodia.
But the agreement was sharply criticised by human rights groups and the
United States which said it contained no reference to voluntary repatriation
nor the number or scope of visits Hanoi would allow the U.N. to make to the
highlands to monitor the situation.
Mihajlovic said the U.N. team which visited the Central Highlands attempted
to visit the homes of as many of the potential returnees as possible.
"They visited what they could visit," he said, without giving details.
Anti-government protests over land rights and religious freedom for
hilltribe members broke out in the Central Highlands of Vietnam last year.
The demonstrations rattled Hanoi which cut access to the region and sent in
police and soldiers to curb new outbursts.
Hilltribe asylum seekers who fled to Cambodia after the crackdown said they
feared persecution if they returned to Vietnam, despite Hanoi's assurances
to the U.N.
Hilltribe communities in the Central Highlands have long been viewed with
suspicion by Hanoi because of their Christian faith and allegiance to U.S.
forces during the Vietnam War.
Reuters - February 13, 2002.
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