The first of about 375,000 Cambodian refugees slated for repatriation by the U.N. reached their troubled homeland this week despite the fact that their safety cannot be guaranteed. Most of the 527 refugees were reported to be nervous, anxious and confused.
No wonder, since fighting persists and hundreds of thousands of land mines are strewn about their country.This was the first group to take part in the $116 million, 10-month program to repatriate all the Cambodian refugees in Thailand, including some babies who are only a few weeks old.
An additional 150,000 Cambodians, internally displaced by fighting in their country of 8 million people, are also due to be returned to their original homes.
The U.N. desire to repatriate these people, many of whom have led pathetic lives for at least a decade, is understandable.
But the decision to do so now is painfully premature. It may plunge them right back into an unstable and even murderous cauldron from which they fled earlier.
The communist Khmer Rouge, who were responsible for killing hundreds of thousands of people during three years of fanatical rule ending in 1978, are still on the prowl.
And this past weekend, Cambodia's government announced a major military operation against Khmer Rouge guerrillas in northern areas of the country.
The government and the Khmer Rouge have accused each other of initiating the recent upsurge in fighting by trying to seize more territory before full deployment of U.N. peacekeeping forces.
The U.N. accord calls for elections in 1993, so the refugees must return home by the end of this year to register to vote. Yet the safety of these poor people ought to be the first consideration for the U.N., rather than their status as potential voters.
International aid officials hope repatriation will speed reconciliation in Cambodia, and the process is certainly necessary to accomplish political and economic stability.
But sending them back now, before real peace is guaranteed, may result not only in many of their deaths but could also jeopardize the entire cease-fire and power-sharing plan as various groups struggle to control the returning refugees.
Let's not allow these unfortunate people to be used as pawns in uncertain political maneuvers. At stake is not only their personal safety but the stability of a country that already has seen too many years of corruption and bloodshed.