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No timeframe set for return of Myanmar refugees from Thailand

Xinhua, June 30, 2016 Adjust font size:

No timeframe has been set as yet for Myanmar to manage a repatriation of more than 100,000 refugees from Thailand, Thai Deputy Premier Prawit Wongsuwan said on Friday.

Gen. Prawit, who returned from a visit to Naypyidaw, said the Myanmar government is yet to fix a timeframe for the returning home of some 105,000 refugees, mostly being ethnic minority groups, after both sides agreed to conduct the long-awaited repatriation on gradual basis.

Those refugees, who had fled armed conflict inside Myanmar, have been provided "temporary" shelter at border camps in western Thai provinces since the last few decades.

The Thai deputy premier quoted the Myanmar government as saying the repatriation plans could be a time-consuming process because, he said, those refugees are yet to be given jobs to make earnings and safe places to stay inside Myanmar after they have been repatriated from Thailand.

He said the new Myanmar government had assured him of refugee repatriation plans which will be carried out on gradual basis, but declined to say how long they will be completely done.

Myanmar State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi had been scheduled to visit one of the refugee camps in Ratchaburi province, about 80 km west of Bangkok, during her visit to Thailand earlier this month but her planned visit was scrapped. Enditem