Mr Cooper visits two Thai camps

Press, 2 July 1983, Page 8

Mr Cooper visits two Thai camps

NZPA staff correspondent Hong Kong A visit to refugee camps on the Thai-Kampuchean border had been “very revealing and important,” said the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr Cooper, from Bangkok yesterday. He said the visit to Kaho I Dang and Ban Non Samet camps had enabled him to get a sense of the difficulties faced in the border area of Thailand. “One of the camps held more than 50,000 people, many of them very young,” said Mr Cooper. “In some cases there have been children unable to walk at 18 months.” New Zealand’s own aid and the milk powder sent to Thailand had been very helpful, he said. “There have been more than 400,000 people sent from Kampuchea to third countries since 1979 but the flow of transfers is not as strong now as it has been in the past,” said Mr Cooper. New Zealand’s own intake of 650 Kampuchean refugees this year had been a very helpful contribution. The chances of the refugees in the camps returning to Kampuchea were

“very slim,” Mr Cooper said. The visit had enabled him two to witness the work of the voluntary agencies from round the world. These were being “very effective,” he said. As it was now the wet season in the region, there was no military activity on the border, said Mr Cooper. “We were also able to inspect educational facilities at the camps and two very interesting hospitals, one of them very rudimentary.” Asked whether there was a possibility New Zealand would increase its refugee intake, Mr Cooper said the present quota of 650 was already a very helpful contribution. Mr Cooper saw the work of a big New Zealand aid project on Wednesday when he visited Chaiyaphum to see a project which is helping develop water resources in north-east Thailand. The development involves two weirs to improve agricultural water use by local farmers and a water-stor-age facility which will provide drinking water for three villages. Mr Cooper will return to New Zealand today.