Repatriation of 33,000 tribal refugees to Mizoram uncertain
Dec 25, 2006

Agartala, Dec 24 - The process of repatriation of 33,000 Reang tribal refugees from Tripura to Mizoram hangs in balance even after New Delhi's request to the Mizoram government to resolve the ethnic crisis.

'We have requested the National Human Rights Commission - to take up the matter with both the central and the Mizoram governments to settle the sensitive ethnic issue,' said Mizoram Bru Displaced People's Forum - president Elvis Chorkhy.

The Reang or Bru tribal refugees have been sheltered in six north Tripura camps for the past nine years following ethnic clashes with the majority Mizos in Mizoram.

'The inmates are asking how long they would remain refugees in their own country,' Chorkhy told IANS.

The Mizoram government and the militant Bru National Liberation Front - had last year signed an agreement to solve the decade-old ethnic crisis, leading to the surrender before the Mizoram government of about 1,040 militants belonging to the BNLF and Bru Liberation front of Mizoram -.

Both the rebel outfits had been fighting for an autonomous council for the Reang refugees. The surrendered militants had submitted a memorandum to the Mizoram government seeking proper economic rehabilitation of the refugees.

'The Mizoram government had earlier insisted that the repatriation of Reang tribal refugees would not begin until Bru militancy was wiped out completely,' Chorkhy said.

'Due to the long stay of the tribal refugees since October 1997, Tripura is facing serious socio-economic problems,' Tripura Chief Minister Manik Sarkar said, while the central government has so far spent about Rs.900 million for their upkeep.

'The Mizoram government had earlier insisted that the repatriation of Reang tribal refugees would not begin until Bru militancy was wiped out completely,' Chorkhy said.