Fate of Hmong up to Laos: Kasit

"Sorry, I might be confused over their status, since the Lao government wants to process resettlement [of the 158] in their home country - but many recipient countries [that agreed to take the 158] wanted them to be processed here in Thailand," Kasit told reporters.

The minister's clarification comes after he announced late last month that the Hmong at Nong Khai would be resettled. Laos said later it was disappointed at the news.

Kasit said after a meeting with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in April that the Hmong in Nong Khai were eligible for resettlement in third countries.

Thailand has been strongly criticised by UN refugee officials and Hmong groups in the US over its treatment of the 158, who have been stuck in crammed cells at Nong Khai's Immigration Detention Centre for more than two years.

Moves to try to forcibly deport the group - all of whom have UN refugee status - caused a near riot last year, when they strongly resisted efforts to deport them. Their leaders say they fled persecution of "jungle Hmong"allied to US forces during the war in the 1960s and 70s.

Lao officials have been urging the group to return home, but its leaders have repeatedly refused, saying they would rather commit suicide than be forcibly returned.

Lao Foreign Ministry spokesman Khenthong Nouanthasing claimed last week that no ethnic Hmong from Laos should be regarded as "political asylum seekers" eligible for the resettlement.

He said they were simply economic migrants.

The Lao Foreign Ministry spokesman asked the Thai Ministry of Foreign Affairs for clarification on whether or not Thailand had changed its stance on the detainees.

Kasit, yesterday, reiterated that about 5,000 Hmong in a camp at Huay Nam Khao in Phetchabun were normal economic migrants who must be repatriated to their place of origin. But he said those at Nong Khai would need resettlement.

Khenthong said Laos and Thailand had previously viewed Lao people held in both Nong Khai and Phetchabun to be illegal migrants, not refugees.

Kasit said he would meet with concerned agencies soon to consider the status of the Hmong, and consult with his Lao counterpart Thongloun Sisoulith next week.

"We have to listen to Laos, since they (Hmong) belong to Laos," he said.

"The most important thing is we must do everything for their safety and well-being."

Thailand has sheltered nearly 8,000 Hmong since late 2004.

But more than 2,000 have been deported over the past 18 months. Recent returnees have been asked to return to their original home towns. But groups in the US fear some have been jailed.