Newsgroups: bit.listserv.seasia-l
Date:         Wed, 2 Sep 1992 14:09:18 -0400
From:         Nhan Tran <tran@PEORA.SDC.CCUR.COM>
Subject:      CAM: UN repartriation program easing way for Cambodian return
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X-To:         FISHLM%SNYBUFVA@pucc.princeton.edu, seasia-l@msu.BITNET

08/24

U.N. REPATRIATION PROGRAM EASING WAY FOR CAMBODIAN REFUGEES TO RETURN HOME

SISOPHON, (AUG. 24) IPS - Cambodian refugees in neighboring Thailand are racing
to get back home after overcoming initial fears about returning to their
war-torn home.

"They are unwilling to wait," Saiiclde Mello, Cambodian representative of the
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). "We expect a wave of
people returning spontaneously."

UNHCR says another sign of the success of its repatriation program is the fact
that not one returnee has gone back to refugee camps as had been feared. What
began as a trickle when the program was launched in March has become a steady
flow of refugees.

More than 1,000 Cambodian refugees from Malaysia and Indonesia are also
expected to arrive in the coming weeks.

According to UNHCR, the 100,000th refugee leaves the camps on Aug. 28. With
some 30,000 refugees returning to Cambodia every month, officials are
optimistic all 380,000 refugees will be repatriated in time to register for the
April 1993 elections.

"The increasing number of returnees is a vote of confidence for the peace
process," said De Mello.

Refugees were initially reluctant to return because of political instability,
lack of homes and land, and fear of hostility from those who stayed behind
while they fled across the border.

"When word spread that families of the returnees were welcoming them at the
reception centers... The mood became very upbeat," said De Mello.

The U.N. Transitional Authority in Cambodia (UNTAC) is policing rural areas
thing a peace pact signed last year by the four rival Cambodian factions. The
accord gives UNTAC the mandate to act as the interim governing authority until
a new government is elected next year.

Even the initially problematic issue of land availability has not become a
serious obstacle as other options opened up for refugees.

Although majority of the land given to returnees so far is under the control of
the Phnom Penh regime, other factions such as the Khmer People's National
Liberation Front (KPNLF) and the Sihanoukists have begun allotting plots to
their followers.

Refugees are entitled to a two-hectare plot of land allotted by UNHCR, building
materials for a temporary shelter and food supplies to last one year.

But U.N. officials say more and more refugees are opting to go their own way,
usually to their areas of origin, and prefer to take cash and food instead of
land.

Each adult is entitled to the equivalent of $50 and each dependent child, $25.
More than half of the refugees have chosen cash, even those who had initially
preferred a plot of land from UNHCR.

"This is by far the best stage of the repatriation program," said De Mello. For
one, it relieves unhcr of having to find them safe and arable land.

Searching for land for the refugees has not been an easy task, given the
widespread problem of mines and the lack of deeds to formalize ownership.

The present government is trying to undo the damage done by the marxist Khmer
Rouge regime when it eliminated all traces of private ownership of property
during its four-year rule in the late 1970's.

One factor which has contributed to the eager return of Cambodian refugees has
been their reintegration with the local people of the areas of their choice.

The Phnom Penh regime has issued temporary identification cards to the
returnees and provincial administrators have made a great effort to welcome
them back.

UNHCR and other U.N. agencies such as the U.N. Development Program (UNDP), the
U.N. Children's Fund (UNICEF) and the World Health Organization (WHO), have
launched quick impact projects in villages and towns receiving the refugees.

"These projects involve basic needs like health, schools and water wells which
benefit not just the returnees but the community at large," De Mello said.

The prompt flow of funds from donor countries has enabled the U.N. agencies to
immediately implement the projects.

But like UNTAC, UNHCR has not much success with the Khmer Rouge, who refuse to
allow U.N. Officials into areas under their control.

"We have limited but insufficient access to Khmer Rouge zones," said De Mello.
About 500 refugees opted to go back to Khmer Rouge-controlled areas without
UNHCR assistance.

At the border, Thai authorities are getting ready to close down the seven camps
that housed the refugees.
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