TNAG-1066-FCO40-1316-Human-rights-in-Hong-Kong-1981 — Page 31

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96. With a view to exploring possibilities of a mass repa- triation, UNHCR participated with the Governments of Cameroon and Chad in a tripartite mission whose work helped pave the way to a return of some 55 000 refugees from Kousseri, from 1 Octo- ber 1981. These people were assisted in their home country once they had returned.

97. Though many Chadian refugees are reported to have returned in 1981 even without direct international assistance, many others are not willing to return in the present climate. Des- pite the presence for a year of Libyan troops, some skirmishes continued between the main rival armed groups, and the com- bination of uncertain security and a devastated

economy has of daunted many of the refugees despite the availability initial assistance in Chad. The call of President Mitterand of France at the North-South summit meeting in Cancun, Mexico for an inter-African Force for Chad, adopted at the annual Franco-African summit in Paris soon afterwards, has resulted in the arrival of some of the troops from the countries which have agreed to join the force (Benin, Gabon, Nigeria, Senegal and Zaire), the Libyan troops having withdrawn in November 1981. If

the Chadian refugees in Cameroon do not return in the foreseeable future, a possibility exists of their being settled on a site offered by the Government at Poli, 600 kilometres away from the border.

1980 CUBA (THE REPUBLIC OF)

98.

After the establishment under Fidel Castro on 1 January 1959 of the Republic of Cuba and the introduction of revolution- ary policies, a mass exodus began leading to over 800 000 Cubans being admitted to the United States of America. The flight/expulsion in the spring of 1980 of over 120 000 Cubans who arrived in the United States by boatlift should be seen against the background of that earlier mass

that earlier mass movement. Active political opponents of the Castro Government,

Castro Government, followed by ordinary businessmen, academics, skilled and unskilled workers, laborers and fishermen, many of them with dependants, left Cuba by air and boat in the first two years at the rate of 50 000 per year

almost all for the United States. When it was evident that the wave of Cuban refugees was not likely to diminish, the US Government opened a "Cuban Refugee Center" in Miami as part of a nine-point Cuban Refugee Program to provide assistance through voluntary agencies,

and negotiated an agreement, entitled a "Memorandum of Understanding", referring especially to reuniting families or immediate relatives of Cubans already in the United States. Whether under this agreement and subsequent agreements signed by the US and Cuban authorities, or clandestinely by boat or air, tens of thousands of Cubans left their country every year.

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