WRAP Forced repatriation under way, army trucks ADDS more скачать в хорошем качестве

WRAP Forced repatriation under way, army trucks ADDS more

(28 Dec 2009) SHOTLIST ++AUDIO AS INCOMING: PART MUTE++ ++NIGHT SHOTS++ 1. Various of Thai army trucks driving along road towards camp ++MUTE++ 2. SOUNDBITE (Thai) Colonel Thana Charuwat, Thai army "Everyone can see that in this operation the combined force of military and police is unarmed - they have just sticks and shields, which is in line with international standards." ++DAY SHOTS++ 3. Mid of security 4. Hmong people, legal residents, waiting 5. Truck convoy drives past 6. People waving as trucks pass 7. Various of more trucks ++DAY SHOTS++ 8. Various of Thai army truck carrying Hmong people 9. Local people waving as trucks pass 10. Various of trucks passing 11. Local people waving 12. Set up shot of Hmong woman and legal resident Tamisa Boriplubplayoon sitting at roadside 13. Close up of young boy 14. SOUNDBITE (Thai) Tamisa Boriplubplayoon, Hmong woman and legal resident in Thailand: "I feel sorry for them but they aren''t here because of the war. They just escaped. Their reason for coming here was to get sent on to a third country." 15. People waving 16. SOUNDBITE (Thai) Colonel Thana Charuwat, Thai army "They were reluctant at first but after we told them the reasons they were quite cooperative. We estimate the operation will be over today." 17. Various of trucks driving away STORYLINE Thailand on Monday sent army troops with shields and batons to evict some four thousand ethnic Hmong asylum seekers and send them back to Laos, despite strong objections from human rights groups and the US who fear they will face persecution. Under tight security, more than two thousand of the Hmong were loaded onto covered military trucks and driven out of the camp by early afternoon toward buses waiting near the Lao border, Thai authorities said. Journalists, who were kept at a distance from the camp in the village of Huay Nam Khao in Petchabun province, could see many children inside the trucks. The Hmong, an ethnic minority group from Laos'' rugged mountains, helped US forces during the Vietnam War. Many fought under CIA advisers during the so-called "secret war" before Laos fell to the communists in 1975. The Hmong claim they have been persecuted by the Lao government ever since. More than 300-thousand Laotians, mostly Hmong, are known to have fled to Thailand since 1975. Most were either repatriated to Laos or resettled in third countries, particularly the United States, but Washington has said it has no plans to resettle more Hmong. The Thai government claims most of the Hmong are economic migrants who entered the country illegally and have no claims to refugee status. The group being deported on Monday was being held at an overcrowded camp that the government wants to close. The army''s coordinator for the operation said the Hmong were being driven out of the camp in military trucks and would then be put on 110 buses going to the border town of Nong Khai, and then across to Laos, heading to the Paksane district in the central province of Bolikhamsai. Colonel Thana Charuwat denied an allegation of brutality by one human rights group, which said callers from inside the camp had used their mobile phones to report violence and bloodshed. "Everyone can see that in this operation the combined force of military and police is unarmed - they have just sticks and shields, which is in line with international standards," he said, noting it was impossible for anyone in the camp to make a call because the military had jammed phone signals. Thana said five thousand soldiers, officials and civilian volunteers were involved in the eviction. Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter:   / ap_archive   Facebook:   / aparchives   ​​ Instagram:   / apnews   You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...