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U.N. refugee chief critical of camp conditions
From staff and wire reports
BANGKOK, Thailand -- For decades, Thailand has provided a safe haven for refugees fleeing war and turmoil in Southeast Asia. Refugees from Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos and -- increasingly -- from Myanmar, formerly known as Burma.
But that may be changing. Thailand's national security chief said on Thursday he hoped to close a Myanmar student camp along the Thai-Myanmar border early next year after all dissidents had been relocated to third countries.
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National Security Council Secretary-General Khachadpai Burusapatana told reporters the Maneeloy Refugee Camp, around 150 km (95 miles) west of Bangkok, could be closed if all remaining 1,300 students had been moved as planned.
He said Thailand had coordinated with the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees to relocate more than 1,000 Myanmar students to other countries since last year.
"If the relocation rate continues, by early 2001 we may have a chance to close down the camp," he said.
Maneeloy, one of 11 refugee camps along the Thai-Myanmar border housing a total of around 140,000 refugees, is resident to pro-democracy student activists who fled Myanmar after crackdowns by the military in the late 1980s and early 1990s. The Myanmar military held democratic elections in 1990, which were won by the National League for Democracy of Aung San Suu Kyi. But the result of the polls was ignored, encouraging many opposition supporters to flee the country.
Conditions at camp for Myanmar refugees criticized
Kachadpai defended Thailand against criticism by U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees Sadako Ogata who said living conditions at a Thai camp for refugees from Myanmar were very poor.
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"I am sorry about what she said because Thailand has been abiding by the humanitarian principle in helping these refugees over the past 15 years," he told reporters.
Ogata said on Tuesday she was sorry and "quite shocked" after visiting the camp at Ban Tham Hin on the border with Myanmar.
The 16-acre (6.5-hectare) camp 150 km (90 miles) west of Bangkok, is home to some 8,200 refugees from Myanmar's ethnic Karen minority. Ogata only conducted a "superficial" visit to the camp, without seeing how Thai people lived in the area near the camp, which were worse than the conditions endured by the refugees.
"I have not seen such a crowded, what shall I say?" Ogata said. "Shelter-wise, very bad. ... I'm concerned."
The 8,000 people in the Ban Tham Hin camp are just a fraction of the more than 100,000 Myanmar refugees in similar camps in Thailand -- most of them Karen who say they have fled military hostility and oppression in Myanmar.
"The situation is unsafe," said refugee spokesman Daniel Zu. "There's still internal fighting and human rights abuses -- and very bad things are going on."
Bangkok Bureau Chief John Raedler and Reuters contributed to this report.
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