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Meeting with Refugees in Aizawl
The Chin refugees
have had an uneasy relation with their Mizo cousins ever since they left
Burma in substantial numbers in 1988. This tension was greatly exacerbated
by a nasty incident this last summer which caused rioting in the streets and
expulsion of several thousand refugees back in to Burma.
As a result, a
small number of Chin who have great reason to fear return to Burma, are now
living in two small camps in Mizoram, but they are still under daily threat
of abuse and expulsion. This is, of course, directly contrary to UN rules
on the treatment of refugees. But then Geneva proposes, and Aizawl
disposes.
Mr. K. T.
Chungnung, sitting to Liz's right in the picture, is the leader of Sihhmui
one of the two refugee camps mentioned above. In trying to describe the
tension that exists between the Chin and the Mizo, he told of an incident on
December 28 in which a drunk Mizo entered a Chin house while several were
gathered for a prayer meeting and started a fight. Before the fracas was
halted, other Mizos came and several Chin men and women were beaten and
stabbed.
Both the Sihhmui
and Vombuk camps have been setup on a temporary basis, and have no education
for their children. We are interested in trying to help these people who
are obviously in great need. However the situation is complicated because
the situation is still very unstable, and the appropriate response is not
clear at this time. We plan to visit Sihhmui on Tuesday Jan. 27 and review
the situation.
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