2.
(contd)
CONFIDENTIAL
2
UNHCR
Two of
of being a better person to have in charge of a programme involving arrangements for spending so much money. have been having additional difficulties recently. their local employees have been dismissed following investigations by our Independent Commission Against Corruption (I C A C) into their role in the sale of Vietnamese junks. I enclose copies of the stories which appeared in the S CMP on 4 and 6 October. I am told that a further story is due to appear next Sunday.
3.
Although Morris will still come under the Kuala Lumpur office he has told me that in certain matters he will have a direct line to Geneva. I was not able to sound him out on this in any detail since our conversation took place with the slight constraint of Carpenter's presence. My own suspicion is that there are some personality conflicts within the U NHCR organisation: I hope that where control by K L causes Morris problems he does indeed feel free to get back to Homann-Herimberg
The Macau Facility
4.
We were much encouraged by John Thompson's letter of 29 september (which I am now copying to UKM I SGeneva). We should be grateful if you would encourage Miss Joyce Pearce of the Ockenden Venture to pursue her suggestion of giving support to the UNHCR in Macau. The reaction of the US Consulate-General, vith whom I have discussed the idea informally, was that this was "excellent" and would be an extremely useful way of publicising the need for vider international support in tackling the refugee problem. We should be grateful if you would keep vs informed of developments and let us know if any further information is required from here.
Present position in Hong Kong
5.
At 15 October the total number of arrivals this year was 4644 and at that date 3765 refugees were awaiting resettlement (excluding 270 in Macau). The flow continues though the last couple of weeks have seen a slight slackening, probably attributable to the presence of a number of tropical storms in the South China Sea. One group of recent arrivals told us that there are about 600 Vietnamese boat refugees at present stranded on Hainan Island and that they will probably come on to Hong Kong when suitable boats appear. We are a little concerned that some of those being put on boats at Hainan by the Chinese might be land refugees from Vietnam rather than people rescued from junks.
CONFIDENTIAL
However,
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