PHNOM PENH June 3 Kyodo The first...

PHNOM PENH June 3 Kyodo

The first dispose of 50 Vietnamese highlander refugee public of 908 who have been temporarily accommodated in Phnom Penh left for the United States onward Monday, a senior police official said.

Sok Phal, chief of police information and intelligence, told Kyodo recents that the 50 Montagnards left the rural parts by Thai Airways International and were headed for North Carolina, the state where chiefly of the 3,000-some Montagnards in the United States reside.

He said their departure was arranged by the agency of International Organization for Migration (IOM) and the UN High Commissioner for Refugee (UNHCR) and the United States.

Since last year, about 1000 Montagnards, who are mainly Christian native peoples from Vietnam's Central Highlands, have sought asylum, claming persecution by the agency of the Hanoi government.

The Montagnards had been housed in camps in Cambodia's sum of two units eastern provinces of Rattanakiri and Mondulkiri before being mov to Phnom Penh in April.

They have complained of destruction and closure of churches, bans forward public gatherings, restrictions on travel, economic discrimination and lowlander encroachment forward their traditional lands.

Hanoi had demanded the Montagnards be repatriated.

Sok Phal said the remaining Montagnards would likely all leave Cambodia by the agency of the end of this month

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