243/1
CM J Segar Esq
SEAD
FCO
Q
"to unco?
white Mr. Hoare. Yes pl. 7412
Interesting. Worth copying
Tan Truth 4
Imith
RESTRICTED
RCM 14/3
1. Pl. copy
HKGO.
to Mrs. Helen Im, BRITISH EMBASSY,
2. pa (VRS &HK).
HANOI.
8 February 1983
70's ;) ec Mr Smith, WKED.
HKK 243/1
CU LITEO IN MESSØY KD. 51
1 5 MAR 1983
file FA243/3
Lhtw
(FA243/12)
INDEX
P
PERSTRY
Action Takan
Dear Charapher,
US ORDERLY DEPARTURE PROGRAMME
1. The Head of the UNHCR Mission here, Mohamed Bouabid, told me today that the Vietnamese Deputy Foreign Minister, Ha Van Lau, had recently agreed to the "quasi-permanent" stationing of two American volunteer workers, Messrs Poli and Malia (agencies unknown), in Ho Chi Minh City, in order to speed up the departure of Vietnamese refugees to the United States. They will work under the UNHCR umbrella: Bouabid quoted Lau as saying that he hoped the refugee flow to the US would soon reach a level of 1,000 persons a month.
2.
Bouabid also said that Lau had promised early action to improve the exiguous telex and telephone facilities in the UNHCR office in Thu Duc. There was, moreover, some possibility of providing private housing for UNHCR employees in Ho Chi Minh City itself. We shall see. But if either promise is kept, the effectiveness and morale of the UNHCR staff in the South should rise markedly. This can only bode well for the working of the ODP programme.
3. Bouabid
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perhaps rashly now foresees a virtual end to the programme as far as most European countries are concerned by 1985 although departures for France and the United States will continue for some years thereafter. He also asserted that the outward flow of boat people would again diminish during 1983 because of a combination of factors: continued progress in the ODP programme; admittedly slight, improvement in Vietnam's economic situation; more comprehensive and sustained surveillance by the Vietnamese authorities; and the growing awareness
some,
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/among