VZCZCXRO1293
OO RUEHCHI RUEHDT RUEHHM RUEHNH
DE RUEHPF #1181 1780742
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 270742Z JUN 06
FM AMEMBASSY PHNOM PENH
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 6924
INFO RUCNASE/ASEAN MEMBER COLLECTIVE
RUEHHM/AMCONSUL HO CHI MINH CITY 0045
RUEHGV/USMISSION GENEVA 1498

UNCLAS PHNOM PENH 001181 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR PRM AND EAP/MLS 
BANGKOK ALSO FOR REFUGEE COORDINATOR HONNOLD 
GENEVA FOR RMA 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREF PREL PHUM CB VM
SUBJECT: SCREENED-OUT MONTAGNARD DEPORTED TO VIETNAM 
 
REF: PHNOM PENH 1006 
 
¶1.  (U) Cambodian Immigration police removed a screened-out 
Montagnard, Y Ngoan Nie, from UNHCR's Site 2 in Phnom Penh on 
June 27 and escorted him to the border for deportation to 
Vietnam.  Y Ngoan Nie was one of the 31 persons denied 
refugee status that the embassy referred to the Department as 
humanitarian cases on May 6 (reftel). 
 
¶2.  (U) Y Ngoan Nie's case was unusual in that he entered 
Cambodia with a Vietnamese passport and obtained a valid visa 
at the Thai-Cambodian border.  He had apparently been hired 
in Vietnam and worked in Malaysia as a contract laborer from 
January 11, 2004 to December 11, 2005.  He entered Cambodia 
from Thailand on December 12, 2005 at Aranyaprathet/Poipet. 
From Poipet he traveled directly to Phnom Penh to seek asylum 
with UNHCR.  UNHCR subsequently determined that he did not 
qualify as a refugee. 
 
¶3.  (SBU) We contacted Cambodian Immigration chief General 
Sophana Meach late on the afternoon of June 26 after UNHCR 
informed us of the impending deportation in order to inform 
Sophana that Y Ngoan Nie was under consideration for 
resettlement in the U.S. and to ask that the Cambodian 
government (RGC) postpone a decision until the U.S. had 
completed its review.  Sophana responded with some 
frustration that Y Ngoan Nie had no status as a refugee and 
had overstayed his visa.  Under these circumstances, the RGC 
had the sovereign right to return him to Vietnam.  UNHCR 
subsequently told us that Cambodian Immigration said Y Ngoan 
Nie had the option of paying $5.00 per day for his overstay 
of almost six months or accept deportation.  He reportedly 
did not have the funds to pay the fine for overstaying his 
visa.  We also telephoned Sophana Meach the morning of June 
27 when we learned the RGC was going ahead with the 
deportation, but Sophana refused to reconsider the decision. 
 
¶4.  (SBU) UNHCR official Eldon Hager speculated to us that 
the RGC decision to deport Y Ngoan Nie was a reaction to the 
decision by 13 screened-out Montagnards to cancel their plans 
to voluntarily return to Vietnam after they discovered that 
they were on the list of persons under review by the U.S. for 
resettlement.  We have no way of knowing whether this is 
true.  General Sophana did not mention this factor in our 
discussion with him.  However, UNHCR told also us that it 
believed that the deportation of Y Ngoan Nie was related to 
his special circumstance in having a valid passport and 
overstaying his visa.  UNHCR said there has been no/no 
indication that the RGC plans deportation of other 
screened-out Montagnards. 
MUSSOMELI