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