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US and UN begin airlifting Vietnamese refugees from Cambodia
The United States and the United Nations have begun airlifting about 1,000 Vietnamese refugees from Cambodia's remote north-east to the capital Phnom Penh.
Officials said three aircraft were being used to ferry the refugees, who fled Vietnam's central highlands across the border into Cambodia.
The mainly Christian hill-tribe refugees, known as Montagnards, have over the last 12 months fled a Vietnamese military crackdown on ethnic minority unrest in the troubled and impoverished Central Highlands.
The US offered asylum to the refugees last month after the United Nations pulled out of a voluntary repatriation program with Vietnam and Cambodia, accusing both sides of violating the terms of the accord.
The scheme had been frozen since February, after Hanoi refused to grant the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees access to the refugees' home villages.
The airlift is expected to be completed on Monday.
14/04/2002 05:11:25 | ABC Radio Australia News
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