Hmong to be returned to Laos by year-end
- Published: 12/09/2009 at 12:00 AM
- Newspaper section: News
Thailand has affirmed it will repatriate the remaining 4,505 ethnic Hmong back to Laos by the end of the year.
Defence Minister Prawit Wongsuwon and Lao Deputy Prime Minister Douangchay Phichit met at the 17th Meeting of the Joint Sub-Committee for Cooperation on Security along the Thai-Lao border held in Bangkok yesterday.
Gen Prawit said Thailand had allowed the Lao officials to visit the Hmong living in the Huay Namkhao refugee camp in Phetchabun.
He said that so far Thailand has repatriated 3,095 of the Hmong to Laos, while the remaining 4,505 of them will be sent back home as quickly as possible by the end of the year.
Under the earlier agreement with Laos, Thailand was required to send back all the remaining Hmong by this month.
If the government failed to transfer the rest of the Hmong by the deadline, the refugee camp in Kasi district of Vientiane was not going to receive Hmong from Thailand anymore.
However, Lao authorities later agreed to extend the deadline to the end of the year following talks with Gen Prawit. But this time round, if the transfer fell behind schedule, Laos would not take back the refugees.
Laos has also asked Thailand to adjust its immigration process to fast-track the return of the Hmong.
Gen Douangchay said the Lao government has facilitated the return to Laos of ethnic Hmong who had gone back to their land and provided them assistance to give them a better living.
The Lao deputy premier said there are now no anti-government movements in Laos, which is peaceful and enjoys political stability.
Thailand and Laos also agreed to extend for another five years an agreement on security cooperation which expired last October.
They struck a deal to beef up cooperation to tackle drug trafficking along the Thai-Lao border.
PM's Office deputy secretary-general Panithan Wattanayakorn said the relocation of the Hmong would be carried out carefully in accordance with the rules and regulations insofar as human rights were concerned. TNA AND BANGKOK POST
