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Thailand set to deport Hmong
[Straits Times] THE Thai military was ready Sunday to begin forcibly repatriating 4,000 ethnic Hmong to communist Laos, despite global protests over a deportation that could 'turn ugly", activists said.The New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) said that armed forces had been mobilised for the expulsion on Monday from a camp in northern Phetchabun province, where the asylum-seeking Hmong are being held. 'I have heard from local officials that they expect the Hmong will resist deportation attempts. And that can turn ugly,' HRW Thailand analyst Sunai Phasuk told AFP. Thailand's Third Army chief Major General Thanongsak Apirakyothin has arrived in Phetchabun to supervise the operation and 'said the army was ready and could start 'cleaning up' the camp anytime,' he added. The first 'wave of action' to clear the asylum seekers would happen on Sunday night and the deportation would begin on Monday morning, Gen. Sunai said in an earlier email to AFP. 'During that (period), mobile phone (signals) will be jammed to prevent the Hmong from contacting outsiders. More than 100 buses and trucks are put on standby,' he said. The only aid group assisting the Hmong, the Catholic Office for Emergency Relief and Refugees (COERR), was on Sunday refused entry by the army in Khek Noi village, about 12 kilometres from the camps. 'As of this morning their access to the camps was denied but their staff are still waiting,' said Tomoo Hozumi, Thailand representative for the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF), which supports COERR. The 4,000 Hmong are seeking asylum based on claims that they face persecution from the Laotian regime for fighting alongside US forces during the Vietnam War. Thailand has promised Laos, which insists the group will be safe after their return, that they would be sent back by the end of the year. But the government refused to confirm on Saturday that any date had been set. Posted by: Fred 2009-12-28 |
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