Thailand raps Myanmar over workers

Thailand raps Myanmar over workers

THAILAND: Bangkok accused the Yangon junta on Wednesday of failing to cooperate in a plan to repatriate hundreds of thousands of illegal Myanmar workers in the kingdom.

"Thailand has repeatedly expressed its wish for Myanmar officials to fully implement the agreed masterplan for repatriation of illegals," Deputy Prime Minister Korn Dabbaransi told reporters.

Korn said Myanmar had so far agreed to establish only one holding center for illegal workers -- in Myawaddy, opposite the western Thai border town of Mae Sot.

Thailand is pushing for two more centers in Kawthung and Pyathonzu, opposite Thai's Three Pagodas pass in the western province of Kanchanaburi.

"We have proposed two more holding centers but Myanmar has not yet approved them," Korn said.

The problem of illegal Myanmar workers has been a perennial irritant to relations between Thailand and its poorer neighbor. -- AFP