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5. A Vietnamese team was origionally planned to visit Malaysia on 16 17 October but Mr Fakhouri believed that these dates might slip. Although the Malaysians hoped to persuade all the refugees who were now due to be resettled to return to Vietnam, he Jid not think that would be successful. Currently only four were willing to return. If the Vietnamese were to go to Pulau Bidong to persuade people to return not only did he think that they would not be successful but he believed that they would be attacked by the refugees.
6. No specific talks are planned between Malaysian officials and the UNHCR on the question of repatriation, though communication between the two groups is generally good. As for the preparatory talks planned to take place in Malaysia before the end of the year, Mr Fakhouri beleived that Malaysia's motivation
in part was to have a forum in which they could retract some of the agreements they made in Geneva in 1979. Also they would be looking for confirmation that the West would be prepared to pay for any repatriation programme. Mr Fakhouri doubted that they would get
this.
yous ever
Saah
cc: Chancery, Hong Kong
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Sarah O'Connell
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