Elusive Laos minister granted asylum in NZ

By JOHN ARMSTRONG political editor

A defecting Laotian Government minister, who disappeared for several months, is understood to have been automatically granted political asylum because of his refugee status when he flew into Auckland on Sunday.

Prime Minister Helen Clark yesterday confirmed Thai media reports that Khamxay Souphanouvong had turned up in New Zealand were "essentially accurate."

She refused to comment further on the whereabouts of the minister, who is thought to have slipped out of Laos in April.

Immigration Minister Lianne Dalziel is refusing to confirm or deny the minister's presence, saying she does not comment on individual cases.

However, it is understood the minister's arrival here was the result of a United Nations-brokered deal.

The UN High Commissioner for Refugees finally granted Mr Khamxay, a son of Laos' first president, "person of concern" status. New Zealand was then recommended as a country that might grant him entry under its standard refugee quota.

The Bangkok Nation newspaper reported at the weekend that Mr Khamxay had left for New Zealand on Saturday after spending several months shuttling between Thailand and France.

Rumours of his defection had circulated for months, but the Laotian Government insisted he was either taking a private trip to Europe or was on medical leave.

Mr Khamxay, a minister with the Business Development Committee of the Prime Minister's Office, is the eldest son of Prince Souphanouvong. He played a key role in the ruling communist party when he was appointed to its central committee in 1991.

A former finance minister, he was named minister to the Prime Minister's Office in 1995. He left the central committee in 1996.

Helen Clark told reporters the convention was not to comment on political asylum for security reasons, "but I can go so far as to say that what you have seen in the press is essentially accurate."

But the Laos Foreign Ministry said Mr Khamxay was on long-term health treatment abroad and also learning management while overseas.

Mr Khamxay's defection is a serious embarrassment for Laos - his late father, whose aristocratic background earned him the nickname of the Red Prince, was the public face of Hanoi's Laotian communist allies throughout the Vietnam War.