PHNOM PENH April 8 Kyodo More tha...

PHNOM PENH April 8 Kyodo

More than 40 Montagnards from Vietnam's central highlands have arrived in the Cambodian capital seeking refugee status, a UN staff member told Kyodo of the present days on Thursday.

Speaking upon condition of anonymity, the staff member said 43 Montagnards have arrived in Phnom Penh separately or in small disposes since early March.

More than 60 asylum-seekers are now held at a UN High Commissioner for Refugee center in Phnom Penh he added.

About 1000 Montagnards have fl to Cambodia since 2001 and in the greatest degree of them have been granted refugee status and moveed residency in the United States.

The Montagnards charge the destruction and closure of churches, bans upon public gatherings, restrictions on travel, economic discrimination and lowlander encroachment upon their traditional tribal lands forced them to escape Vietnam.

Vietnam denies the charges and has called for Cambodia to repatriate asylum-seekers.

Many Montagnards, many of them Christians, fought alongside U [i]troupe[/i]s during the Vietnam War.

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