Monday, 13 December 2010
Sebastian Strangio and Sam Rith
The Phnom Penh Post
The government has ordered the closure of a United Nations-administered refugee centre in Phnom Penh, casting uncertainty over the future of more than 60 Montagnard refugees now being housed at the site.
Local media reported yesterday that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs wrote to the local office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees on November 29 to request the centre’s closure by January 1. The report also paraphrased the letter as stating that the government planned to deport to Vietnam the 62 Montagnard refugees now at the centre.
“The Royal Cambodian government will send the group of Montagnards back to Vietnam, including new Montagnards,” stated the report, which appeared in Cambodia Express News, a Khmer online news site.
A copy of the letter could not be obtained late yesterday, but Foreign Ministry spokesman Koy Kuong confirmed the centre would be closed at the end of the year.
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