World Notes REFUGEES

Ruthless Khmer Rouge guerrillas impose a harsh life on 60,000 Kampucheans warehoused in four refugee camps in eastern Thailand. The practice of Buddhism is banned, marriages are permitted only with the consent of the Khmer Rouge cadres, and education is restricted to recitation of Communist tracts. But those who are stuck in the Thailand camps are the lucky ones.

Since June, Khmer Rouge fighters have forcibly relocated some 12,000 of the refugees to makeshift camps just across the border inside Kampuchea, to serve as porters for the guerrillas. These refugees are sitting ducks for Vietnamese artillery fire. In recent weeks hundreds have been killed by shelling and booby traps.

The Khmer Rouge seems to be using the refugees as pawns to seize land in Kampuchea as Vietnamese troops carry out their phased withdrawal from the country, due to be complete by 1990. Last week, responding to international pressure, Thailand promised to boost security around the permanent Khmer Rouge camps to halt the forced relocations and general thuggery.