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The Vietnam News

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Hanoi raises stakes in refugee standoff with U.N.

HANOI - Vietnam raised the stakes in a standoff with the U.N. refugee agency on Tuesday, insisting 94 hill people be repatriated from Cambodia before it allows the agency to visit the villages of other potential returnees. The U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees said at the weekend Hanoi had denied it access to the home villages in Vietnam of Montagnard asylum seekers, currently in camps in Cambodia. The agency considers these visits essential to assess the safety of returnees.

UNHCR officials said last week the 94 Montagnards in question were among a group of 109 who had "expressed an interest" in returning, but only 15 confirmed they wished to go back. Several of those 15 last week expressed fears about their safety after getting back home A statement from Vietnam's foreign ministry spokeswoman Phan Thuy Thanh argued that all 109 had filed applications for repatriation and UNHCR had committed to sending them back. "Due to the fact that the UNHCR did not carry out correctly its commitment without giving any reason, we have requested that they fully settle the repatriation of the people who wished to return before conducting new visits," she said.

Thanh said Vietnam had reaffirmed it was ready to hold more talks with the UNHCR to revive the controversial plan to repatriate more than 1,000 minority people who fled to Cambodia after a crackdown on unrest last year, which stalled after the access to the villages was denied. In a statement on Monday, the ministry criticised the United States, which it referred to as "a country", for opposing the plan agreed between UNHCR, Vietnam and Cambodia last month. It also defended an April 30 deadline for completing the repatriation agreed by Cambodia and Vietnam during a controversial trip by Vietnamese officials to one of the two U.N. refugee camps in Cambodia last week.

On Sunday, the UNHCR said the tripartite agreement was being "seriously eroded" by Vietnam and Cambodia because their deadline had jeopardised the "voluntariness" of returns. It sought urgent clarification from both governments. The United States, which along with rights groups was strongly critical of the repatriation agreement on the grounds that it lacked sufficient safeguards, has called the setting of the deadline an attempt to marginalize the United Nations. The Montagnards fled the Central Highlands last year after Hanoi sent in police and troops to the region following unprecedented protests over land rights and religious freedoms.

During the visit by Vietnamese officials to the camp in Cambodia last week, police used electric shock batons to subdue several asylum seekers who verbally objected to repatriation. Several of the 15 people who have so far returned under the scheme told reporters in Vietnam last week they worried about their safety and it was essential UNHCR visit them in future.

Reuters - February 27, 2002.