Curfew slapped on Bhutan refugee camp in Nepal
Afp, Kathmandu
A curfew was imposed yesterday at a camp in southeast Nepal for Bhutanese refugees following riots that left one dead in police firing at the weekend, a local official said. "An indefinite curfew has been imposed from Monday noon after demonstrating Bhutanese refugees turned violent and began attacking police," Jaya Mukunda Khanal, chief administrator for Jhapa district told AFP by telephone. On Sunday a 17-year-old Bhutanese refugee was fatally shot by police after fighting broke out between rival factions at the UN-monitored camp in Jhapa district, 280km southeast of Kathmandu. A United States offer to resettle more than half of the 107,000 refugees, some who have lived at the camp for more than a decade, has created tension between those who want to go to a third country, and others who insist they be given the right to return to Bhutan, the official said. "The situation is getting tense as the refugees are defying the curfew," Khanal. Local police said that six officers were injured in clashes Monday morning, and that the police had fired tear gas to try to bring the situation under control.
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