THAILAND SAID TO USE FORCE TO REBUFF LAOTIAN REFUGEES

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Collection: 
Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 
CIA-RDP90-00965R000302630074-0
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RIPPUB
Original Classification: 
K
Document Page Count: 
1
Document Creation Date: 
December 22, 2016
Document Release Date: 
September 25, 2012
Sequence Number: 
74
Case Number: 
Publication Date: 
February 19, 1985
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OPEN SOURCE
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ST Declassified in Part -Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/09/25 :CIA-R 1 DP90-009658000302630074-0 NEW YORK TIMES 19 February, 1985 7'fi~rFla~d Said to Use Farce .. To ~ehu~fLcxot~an Re~g~ee,~ ." By BERNARD GWERTZMAN ~' . Sped~l to The Nes Yor1c Timms / _... ~. VTASAINGTON, Feb. 18 - A United Thais R+orried by Inflm But he said that despite these assttr- 5tates Senator and refugee e~cperts I antes, reports of Laotians' being The Thai Government has denied .~ ~~ back persisted. xnat a ..ors to le a Tna; Government back all Laotian refugees, but has indi- ecrs~on to u_ae .once to turn back Lao- toted that it is concerned about a large fan refuee~ - includin many a?ho increase in the number of Laotians, in- once oualtt in the .1.A.'s "secret ~ eluding Hmong, who made their way in ~;' boats and rafts across the Mekong last Reports in the Thai press in recent I y~ State Department officials said. weeks have said that the Thai Govern- I Last year, Thailand said nearly 20,000 went, in an effort to stem a rise in Lao- ~~~ of whom about 25 percent san refugees, had refused since the ,were believed to be Hmong, arrived in aeginning of th e year to permit the Lao- ! Thailand, the officials said. The two- Yans to continue. trussing the Mekong yam. total for 1582 and 1983 was about River into Th: iland. There have been q,000, reports that Thai border troops have Thai newspapers, however, have re- "I urgetttly request your interven- tion," Mr. Hatfield said to hfr. Shultz, "in obtaining from the embassy in ~I Bang}:ok timely and accurate report- ing on this life-threatening problem and R?hat the United States is dotng to moderate Thai policy." procedures Set for Refugees Under long-established procedures, Thailand is supposed to accept all those seeking asylum, pendi.-tg screening to determine if those crossing the borders are legitimate refugees fleeing perse- cution or retribution, or are simply mi- grants looking for better opportunities. If they fall into the ref-sgee category, - theywould be elio.ble for emigration to the United States, while if migrants, they could be returned to Laos. A problem, State Department offi- cials said, is to determine who carries out the screening. The officials said they had asked the Thais to permitrep- resentatives of the United Nations F.igh Commissioner for Refugees to carry out the interviewing, and that agency has expressed some interest in doing so. P. State Department official with long experience in refugee affaizs said the Thais had voiced concern that the United States might close down its resettlement program, leaving 'Thai- land with thousands of Indochinese - Viemameseand Cambodians as well as Laotians -with no place to go. ' This official said that although it was the official Administration policy to continue to admit about 50,000 Indochi- rilled some of the Laotians. ported that a basic polity shift was Of rime concern to Senator Mark 0. taken, Mr: minter said: Ha a Repabtican of Oreeon and He ~~, for instance, a report in the re Qee spec-iat:sts is the fate of the Feb. 2 issue of The Bangkok Post. The HIDOnQ hill t>enole. who were Dart of article, datelined Nong Khai, s town on the clandestine army that fought tine the Mekong River, said, "Hundreds of of o tetnamese or many years tx~ gmp~ irlbesmen fled across the Me- fore the Ceat ante ence yen kph River from Laos yesterday but cut o~f~unas oe~~3 ono I9'7S were barred from landing by security' State Department officials said that, forces stationed at Bung Kan District." there had been very little reporting The article said that more than 300 of from the embassy in Thailand on the t>ie MB people had been refused per- situation on the Laotian border but that mission to land by the Thai border no officials questioned the accuracy of ~, and had returned to the Laotian the Thai press reports. side north of the Pakading River in the _. ?Grave Concern' Expressed Paksane district of Vientiane, the Lao- Senator Hatfield sent a letter to Sec- tiara capttal' retary of State George P. Shultz today ?- - Statement by Governor expressing "grave concern" after say- `~G~vernor Sakda Ophong told re- ing he was not satisfied with an earlier porters at the scene that it was the Gov- confidential exchange with the United ernmeat's policy not to accept any States Ambassador to Thailand. -, more Laotian refugees,,, the paper A similar view was expressed by said. Roger P. winter, director of the United Another ~ report, in The Bangkok States Committee for Refugees, anon-. World on Jan. 7, said that ameeting in- governmental group, who said in an in- terview that since the beginning of January, "Thai officials have imple- mented comprehensive patrolling along the Mekong River to interdict newly arriving Lao." Mr. Hatfield said in his letter: "For 10 years, under three U.S. administra- tions, we have been largely successful in insuring that there is refuge for flee- ing Indochinese. And now the door seems to be quietly swinging shut on refugees from Laos." Mr. Hatfield has had a particular in- terest in the plight of the Hmong, many of whom live in Oregon as refugees. volving Prason 5unsiri, secretary gen- nese a year, the Coordinator for Refu- eral of the Thai Netional_Security l gce Attains, H. Eugene Douglas, had Council was held in early January and ~ it was decided "to take stem action '~ over the influx of Laotian refugees." Mr. Hatfield said that "the apparent II erosion of first asylum for refugees from Laos is a grave concern:" ~, He said he had sent a teleg: am to ~ John Gunther Dean, the United States Ambassador in Bangkok, and received ', a response on Jan. 21 that the United ~ States would be working with Thai au- thorities "to insure that newly arriving I refugees from Laos will have access to ,screening and that refugees ir. poten- Itial jeopardy will not be returned.". reportedly told Thai officials that Washington's goal was to reduce the flow of refugees. The problem of the Hmong is more complicated than those of the other refugees, State Department; officials said. Because of difficulties encotnn= tered by many Hmong in adapting to American life -there are now about, 60,000 Hmong in the United States -; many of the Hmoag in Laos have asked to ,stay in Thailand rather than emi- grate here. ' Of the. 50,000 Laotians now in T`rai- land, some 30,000 are F.mong. Declassified in Part -Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/09/25 :CIA-RDP90-009658000302630074-0