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To a question put by the Secretary-General, Mr. Ahmed replied that the Thai Government, and more particularly the military, had been speaking of a repatriation spread over a three-year period but noted that the exact duration was difficult to forecast at this stage and largely depended on the degree of peace that could be achieved through ongoing negotiations. Moreover, he indicated that the position of the Thai Prime Minister was not identical to that of his Foreign Minister on this question. Mr. Anvar commented that Foreign Minister Siddhi would probably insist, in case of a failure in the political negotiations, that displaced persons along the border remain under the political control of the CDGK and be not repatriated, although he could show flexibility on the Khao-I-Dang population under UNHCR's protection. Mr. Kibria, however, observed that the Prime Ministers' Advisers may, whatever the outcome of the Paris negotiations, recommend the push-back of Cambodian displaced persons across the border by the Thai army.
Turning to the question of transfer of responsibilities from UNBRO to UNHCR, Mr. Kibria felt that it should be achieved step by step, noting that the first two steps, in his opinion, were the announcement made the previous day at the ACC by the Secretary-General that UNHCR would play the lead role in the repatriation of Kampuchean refugees and displaced persons; the second, he said, would be to involve other agencies more actively in the Bangkok group discussions.
On the question of the International Conference in Paris, Mr. Ahmed stressed the importance of the preparatory work and the need to mold it in a realistic way. He indicated that he would be having a meeting with Mr. Claude Martin of the Quai d'Orsay that very Thursday. He added that there should be one United Nations delegation and predicted that the Conference would be long, lasting up to one month. He recalled that the Secretary-General would be attending the Ministerial Conference for one or two days and that Committees, which he hoped could be limited in number, would then meet through the month of August; one of them, he said, was likely to deal with repatriation and reconstruction. The Secretary-General noted that ASEAN Foreign Ministers in Brunei had expressed doubts about the Paris Conference and stated that he was prepared to accept the French invitation to participate and clarified that he would do so in his official and not in his personal capacity.
Finally, Mr. Kibria informed the meeting that donor countries in Bangkok had expressed an interest in being more actively involved in the planning process and said that this could be easily organized, recalling that eventually their financial support would be essential. The High Commissioner commented that they could be provided with ample information, short cf being actually involved in the planning exercise.
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