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A number of news sources (AFP, Reuters, Asia News Network, Earth Times) have been covering the tense situation in Thailand where about 4,000 ethnic Hmong refugees look destined (doomed?) to be returned to their native Lao, despite their claim that they will be persecuted there for their people's role as a US ally in the Vietnam War.

Several countries have offered to take the Hmong refugees. But Thailand says that it fears allowing that to happen would only result in more refugees crossing the border. Thailand plans to send in the military and forces the 4,000-plus refugees into buses and trucks and drive them tp Nong Khai - across the Mekong from Vientiane. They could then be sent across to the Laotian capital.

The Hmong live at the Huay Nam Khao refugee camp in northern Phetchabun province. The army is set up in Khek Noi village, about 12 kilometres from the camp. In recent days, Human Rights Watch (HRW), the Catholic Office for Emergency Relief and Refugees (COERR), the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF), and the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) have all reported that their access to the camp has been cut off.

"This is a grave breach of international human rights standards," one Western diplomat in Bangkok said Sunday.

"It seems difficult to imagine there will be fully fledged international access to the Hmong community on arrival, given the past experiences of repatriation," the diplomat added.

Antonio Guterres, the head of the UN refugee agency, Thursday urged Thailand to call off the returns, saying they would "set a very grave international example".

Hmong refugees now live in a number of Western countries. According to one report, about 500 of the refugees have been identified in a previous screening process as relatives of Hmong soldiers who fought with Thailand and the US against the communist takeover of Laos 30 years ago.

Thailand has promised Laos that it will repatriated the refugees before the end of the year. Ethnic Hmong communities of 150,00 or more exist in Thailand, Laos, Myanmar (Burma), Vietnam, and Southern China as well as the U.S. Canada, France, Australia, Germany and French Guiana are home to smaller expatriate Hmong communities.