Mon, December 28, 2009
BANGKOK, Dec. 28 (Xinhua) -- Thai government early Monday morning began to deport the over-4,000 ethnic Hmong from their refugee camp in northern Thailand to Laos, with the expectation of completing the movement by the end of the day, Thai media reported.
The move to clear the Huay Nam Khao camp in northern province Phetchabun began at 5:30 a.m. local time (2230 GMT Sunday), carried out by about 5,000 soldiers, officials and assisting civilian volunteers. The empty camp is to be formally closed soon.
Thai News Agency online quoted Col. Thana Charuwat, coordinator of the operation, as saying that the soldiers were unarmed, but equipped with shields and batons to prevent violent resistance by some Hmong who may refuse to be deported.
He said, however, if the camp residents still resist, the authorities will force them to return to Lao.
The authorities indicated that 4,506 Hmong are to be deported from the camp, with 2,100 of them reportedly having agreed to be return homeland while 2,406 unwilling to do so. Thai officials are trying to persuade them.
The government said earlier most of the Hmong at the camp, having no legitimate claim to refugee status, are simply economic migrants who entered the country illegally, while the Hmong themselves said they face persecution by the Laotian regime for fighting alongside U.S. forces during the Vietnam War.
In an attempt to prevent any spontaneous protest or resistance from being aroused, the security forces kept officials from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), other human rights workers and journalists several kilometers away from the camp since Sunday as soldiers, police and security volunteers from the Interior Ministry were moved to the camp together with hundreds of vehicles, Bangkok Post online reported.
Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva earlier asserted that the repatriation of ethnic Hmong to Laos would be carried out under human rights principles and legal procedures.
On the other hand, U.S. officials said on Sunday that U.S. would be "deeply dismayed" by the deportation and had made a last-ditch offer in vain to help Thailand take an alternative path.
