US patrol flights get nod

“This morning, the US aircraft flew together with our Air Force for the mission,” Tanasak said.

“At the request of Washington, Deputy Prime Minister Prawit Wongsuwan granted permission and I have already conveyed the message to the US charge d’affaires, W Patrick Murphy,” he said.

The US welcomed the decision. Murphy told reporters that initially Thailand had allowed the US to continue the operation until June 11. 

“We are now flying from Malaysia; further options [using bases in Thailand] were being discussed with Thai authority,” he said. “The operation is maritime surveillance, not for search and rescue purposes. The US offered governments in the region the operation to inspect the situation of irregular migrants in the Andaman Sea,” he added.

Since early this week, the US Navy has been conducting daily maritime surveillance flights out of Subang, Malaysia, to locate boats carrying migrants.

Tanasak declined to answer clearly whether the government would allow the US to use military facilities in U-tapao or Phuket for the mission as earlier requested.

“They can use any base. If it is necessary to use Thai territory for the base, the request can be considered,” he said.

The operation was a part of a regional effort to save boat people from Bangladesh and Myanmar, which has become a crisis after the unearthing of graves in Thailand and Malaysia recently. 

Last week, Tanasak joined a ministerial meeting in Kuala Lumpur with his Malaysian and Indonesian counterparts who announced a rescue operation for some 7,000 migrants still at sea. The two countries will shelter the boat people for one year. 

Thailand, however, did not decide to take them in, but instead set up the “Operation Centre for Patrol and Humanitarian Assistance to Irregular Migrants” and off-shore “floating platforms” to help them before sending them on to Malaysia or Indonesia, Tanasak said. At a special meeting of senior officials on irregular migrants in the Indian Ocean in Bangkok yesterday, Tanasak said that countries should not be blaming each other, but instead should come together to share this burden. 

At the meeting, the Myanmar delegation rebuked the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) for pointing out that the country was the cause of the migrant outflows to Southeast Asia.

“My dear delegation from UNHCR, on the root cause of migration, you cannot single out my country. I said earlier, some issue is falling on domestic jurisdiction and the influx of migration. Myanmar is not the only country,” said the Myanmar Foreign Ministry’s special representative, Htin Lynn, to the meeting. “Understanding the root cause of the problem is important, otherwise you cannot solve the problem”.

Though the meeting was a closed-door one, journalists were allowed to listen to some parts of it yesterday. Also present at the meeting was UNHCR’s director of International Protection Volker Turk. 

Bangladesh Foreign Secretary Mohamad Shahidul Haque said his government would take full responsibility for the repatriation of Bangladeshi migrants, who were victims of human trafficking. Bangladesh has stepped up measures and cooperation with Myanmar to strictly control their border to cope with the trafficking, he said.

Meanwhile, Malaysia’s Foreign Ministry Deputy Secretary-General Ibrahim bin Abdullah called for the international community to share the burden that his country, Indonesia and Thailand have taken. Malaysia, as the current chair of Asean, proposed to convene a ministerial meeting on transnational crimes to tackle the problem.

Malaysia will also explore the possibility of holding a leader summit of concerned countries – Malaysia, Myanmar, Indonesia and Thailand – on irregular migrants, people smuggling and human trafficking, he said.

US Assistant Secretary of State Anne Richard said the US will contribute $3 million (Bt101 million) to the emergency appeal by the International Organisation for Migrant (IOM) to assist the boat people. The IOM filed an appeal for $26 million on Tuesday. 

Meanwhile, Australia has said it will contribute 11 million Australian dollars (Bt283 million) towards humanitarian assistance for vulnerable people in Bangladesh and Myanmar.

Thai Foreign Ministry’s permanent secretary Norachit Sinhaseni, who chaired yesterday’s meeting, said a number of recommendations were made for immediate response to protect migrants stranded at sea, including finding ways to prevent and address the root cause of the problem.