Thai Troops Remove Refugees Desperate for New Life in Us

Thailand yesterday removed some 1,500 Hmong squatters from a refugee camp that has been reserved for their fellow tribespeople who have signed up for resettlement in the US.

Hundreds of soldiers descended on the camp at Tham Krabok temple, about 90 miles north of the capital Bangkok, at 2am and took the unregistered Hmong to a nearby government office.

There they were interrogated about their presence in the camp that is scheduled to close once the last of the 15,900 registered Hmong leave for America.

"It seems as if they were hoping they still might be able to register," said Pierre King, who is coordinating the resettlement for the International Organisation for Migration but had nothing to do with yesterday's eviction. "They had been warned since Saturday that they would have to leave and so, from what I gather, they left in an orderly way."

Officials at Thailand's national security council said they intend to return the squatters to the less formal camps in north-eastern Thailand from where they trekked to Tham Krabok and would not let them go to the US.

An American embassy spokesman said Washington has no plans to extend the resettlement programme.

"The US does not intend to interfere [in the relocation] or initiate any new registration process for further resettlement," he told the Guardian.

Tens of thousands of Hmong, from Laos, were recruited by the CIA during the Vietnam war and then left to fend for themselves. The resettlement, which began in earnest on Monday, is partly motivated by a desire repaying a decades-old debt to a former ally.

Lionel Rosenblatt,the president emeritus of the Washington-based group Refugees International, said the situation showed the need for the US and Thai governments to work more closely on the resettlement.

"Rounding up people in a non-transparent, arbitrary manner can only complicate matters, and certainly will inflame and confuse the Hmong-American community," said Mr Rosenblatt.