Agreement Signed to Resettle Ethnic Minority Vietnamese in Cambodia

(ABC Radio Australia ) – Vietnam , Cambodia and the United Nations refugee agency, the UNHCR, have signed an agreement to resettle or repatriate an estimated 700 ethnic minority Vietnamese currently in Cambodia . The chief of the UNHCR delegation, Erika Feller, says the memorandum of understanding lays the basis for some of the refugees to be resettled in a third country, and for others to be repatriated to Vietnam if they want to. Ms Feller says the accord covers this group of refugees only, and will not necessarily apply to members of the Montagnard minority who may flee Vietnam in the future. More than 1,000 Montagnards fled to Cambodia after security forces put down demonstrations in Vietnam ‘s Central Highlands in 2001 against land confiscation and religious persecution.