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Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Mannie who wrote (24953)	4/14/2002 2:06:55 AM
From: unclewest	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 281500

Scott, here is some news regarding the current group of Montagnards about to be granted visas. uw The Cambodia Daily, Saturday, April 13, 2002; page 3 National Briefing Montagnards to be Moved to Phnom Penh Preparations are being made to move the 905 Montagnard refugees under UN protection from camps in the provinces to Phnom Penh over the Khmer New Year. Officials say the move could be made Sunday. The Montagnards are expected to be housed in an unused garment factory near Olympic Stadium while they are processed for resettlement in the US. The UN High Commissioner for Refugees expects to drive more than 500 Montagnards out of its Mondolkiri camp, while the more than 300 refugees in Ratanakkiri will be flown to the capital, one observer said Friday. The Montagnards are part of a larger group that began fleeing Vietnam's Central Highland last year and have since demanded to go to the US. Cambodia only recently agreed to let them seek asylum overseas after attempts by the UNHCR to repatriate them failed. Following the move, the UNHCR's camps will be closed and no other asylum seekers allowed across the border -- an order that has drawn heavy fire from human rights groups, who say it violates human rights conventions. (Seth Meixner] locally this info was sent to us from Lutheran Family Services... LATEST NEWS MONTAGNARD ARRIVALS Yard Net Friends! We will need volunteers, sponsors,dentists, physicians, drivers, storage space, welcome committees, donations, clothing, furniture, temporary and permanent housing, soon. Please alert all SF, SOG, and other Veterans' networks. Information on contact people at end of this message. Our Montagnard friends are getting closer to freedom. Keep them in your heart and prayers, (along with our Embassy staff,journalists, and the UNHCR) as this weekend the Mondolkiri group makes the long journey on the muddy road to Phnom Penh. The following comes from Friday's meeting 12 April in Raleigh, NC with the State Dept., national voluntary agency reps, state volags, county and state social services, Montagnards, health depts. First Arrivals expected second week of May. (probable numbers to U.S. 800-900 refugees) Arrivals to end after six or eight weeks. Resettlement Agencies:( State Dept. may add more) 1. Lutheran Family Services Raleigh, NC/ Greensboro, NC 2. Catholic Social Services Charlotte, NC 3. World Relief High Point,NC 4. HIAS Hebrew Immigration, Refugee Service Charlotte, NC 5. Interfaith Refugee Ministry New Bern, NC 6. Church World Service (partnering with LIRS/Lutheran Family Services) Numbers of refugees assigned to each area are still being negotiated. We are working closely with the State Dept, Carl,(in Cambodia) and the Montagnard community here in efforts to get relatives and village connections matched up so that the refugees can indicate a preference of the community where they wish to live. INS interviews begin April 22,and there will be one week turn arounds for "assurances" and flights to most likely be booked with clusters of refugees arriving, rather than chartered flights with large groups of 200 or more. I anticipate that most of the refugees will get INS approval. Lautenburg criteria will be used rather than standard INS criteria( from what I heard in today's meeting) Once I have arrival info., I will post it on the Net for those folks interested in welcome committees at the airports. We are attempting to communicate more closely with IOM and the RDC(Refugee Data Center) as well as the local volags of LFS,. CSS and others so we should have a better heads up on flight schedules. There was a fabulous response at today's meeting with NC Health Departments, social services reps and the volags who have all shifted into high gear for the new arrivals. Extra funding will be provided by ORR, the Office of Refugee Resettlement, to assist with health care follow-up and screening.ORR also indicated it will accept proposals for special education, acculturation and mental health services for this special population. CONTACT NUMBERS: will update as we know more: STMP "Save the Montagnard People" Ret.Col.David "Bulldog"Smith 336-475-3908 Lutheran Family Services,Raleigh Refugee Director Jeremy Eggleton 919-832-2620 LFS Greensboro, Director (Ms.)Pat Priest 336-378-7881 Catholic Social Service, Charlotte,NC Cira Ponce 828-255-0146 Montagnard Human Rights Organization Raleigh Montagnard Community Rong Nay 919-469-8866 Montagnard Dega Association Greensboro, NC 336-373-1812 Resettlement Agencies are expected to provide Case Management, ESL, Employment services, Translation and Social Adjustment, but they urgently are going to need help. Will keep you informed. Don't hesitate to phone the individual voluntary agencies and ask how to get involved. Thanks all! Kay VHAP, Vietnam Highlands Assistance Project LFS

To: Mannie who wrote (24953)	4/14/2002 2:48:59 AM
From: unclewest	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 281500

Scott, main US press now picking up on the story...and the connection that these guys fought for America. AP, Reuters and others have the story...here is one version. i suppose we will see wider coverage as they arrive. it all seems strange to me...here we are finally standing by our former allies from 40 years ago...even as we attempt to forge new allies for our current war(s). unclewest Reuters, Saturday, April 13, 2002 Cambodia starts resettling Vietnam refugees PHNOM PENH (Reuters) - Cambodia on Saturday started the process of resettling 905 hilltribe asylum seekers to the United States after a tug of war over their status involving neighbouring Vietnam, Washington and the United Nations. Government officials said the hilltribe people were being moved from refugee camps in the northeastern part of the country to capital Phnom Penh where they would await U.S. and U.N. preparations for their departure for the United States. Washington, with past links to anti-Communist hilltribes who fought alongside U.S. forces in Indochina during the Vietnam War, reached an agreement with Cambodia last month to resettle the refugees. Over 1,000 hilltribe people had fled Vietnam's Central Highlands to refugee camps in Cambodia in the past year after Hanoi sent troops to the region to quell protests by ethnic minority groups seeking land ownership and religious freedom. Some of them have since returned home. Several dozen others were resettled in the United States amid protests from Phnom Penh's old ally Hanoi. General Sok Phal, Cambodian interior ministry information chief, said 37 refugees flew to Phnom Penh from Cambodia's remote Ratanakiri province on Saturday and another two groups of about the same number were due to arrive later on Saturday. "In the next three days, we will bring 373 refugees on nine flights from Ratanakiri province. When the refugee camp in Ratanakiri is done, we will begin taking refugees from Mondulkiri province. Everything is going smoothly," Sok Phal told Reuters by phone. Over 500 hilltribe refugees sheltered at a U.N. camp in northeastern Mondulkiri province are expected to arrive by trucks in Phnom Penh on Monday. The first group of refugees flew to Phnom Penh on Saturday in a Cambodian military plane before being transported by bus to an empty suburban factory in the capital, military sources said. The factory will serve as a reception centre for the refugees in the next few weeks while they wait to be processed by U.S. immigration and U.N. refugee agency officials preparing for their departure to the United States. The U.N. had recently suspended plans to repatriate the refugees to Vietnam after reports that Phnom Penh had forcibly deported asylum seekers. Hanoi had adopted strong measures aimed at persuading the refugees to return home and over 100 had previously agreed to return to Vietnam. The hilltribe refugee issue has strained relations between Phnom Penh and Hanoi, which had vigorously insisted that they be deported back to Vietnam as illegal immigrants. After Phnom Penh announced it would allow the United States to resettle the 905 refugees, Cambodia said it would not allow more ethnic hilltribesmen to enter the country and close U.N. camps, a decision seen by many as a move to placate Hanoi. Hanoi accused the United States in 2001 for interfering in its internal affairs after Washington resettled the first 38 asylum seekers who fled to Cambodia from Vietnam.