The Myanmar Peace Support Initiative (MPSI), better known as the
Norwegian Initiative, does not have any plans to return Burmese refugees
in Thailand to Burma, according to Charles Petrie, head of the MPSI.
Speaking at a meeting with representatives from ethnic organizations
in Chiangmai yesterday, he said, “Neither does the MPSI have mandate to
move them back. You need an international agreement to do that”.
Charles Petrie, head of MPSI, speaking at Furama Hotel, Chiangmai, on 30 May 2012. (Photo: SHAN)
Shan Community-Based Organizations (CBOs) had held a press conference
on 27 August in Chiangmai to inform reporters that Shan refugees on the
border district of Wiang Haeng, Chiangmai province, did not want to go
back due to fear of the Burmese army and other pro-government militias
across the border.
According to the joint statement issued by the Shan CBOs, the
Norwegian Refugee Council, contracted by the MPSI, was planning a
house-to-house survey of refugees in Koong Jaw refugee camp about their
willingness to move to Mong Hta, opposite Wiang Haeng.
“Looking at the overall situation, we think it is too early to
consider their repatriation,” said Mr Petrie, who was UN resident
coordinator in Rangoon during the 2007 Saffron Revolution. Accused by
Naypyitaw of interference in the country’s internal affairs, he later
left Burma.
Currently, he is planning a pilot project for the Shan IDPs
(internally displaced persons), just as he had done for the Karen IDPs
in Kyaukkyi in May. “I met Lt-Gen Yawdserk (leader of the Shan State
Army “South”) 3 weeks ago,” he said. “We had agreed to carry out an
assessment of Shan IDPs along the border first.”
He added that nobody would be forced to move back and no resistance
movement would be forced to sign ceasefire agreements by the MPSI.
“War is difficult, but peace is sometimes even more difficult,” he
concluded. “It brings a lot of mistrust and tensions. Every movement
needs time to find peace.”
Norway and the MPSI have been under suspicion by several Burmese
movements, particularly the CBOs, of working hand in glove with the
Thein Sein government against the resistance.
The MPSI team, led by Petrie, has also been assisting resistance
movements that have concluded ceasefire pacts with the government to set
up and maintain liaison offices.
http://www.shanland.org
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