Laos and Thailand would proceed with the bilateral plan to repatriate nearly 8,000 Hmong refugees now sheltered in Phetchabun province to Laos - with no third party involvement, a Lao senior official insisted yesterday.

Repatriation of the Hmong had been delayed over recent months because international organisations "intervened" and accused the process of being inhumane, Lao deputy chief of staff Brig General Buaxiang Champapanh said.

Buaxiang was in Thailand to meet with Lt General Niphat Thonglek, chief of the Supreme Command's Boundary Department on repatriation of the Hmong.

Close to 8,000 Hmong from Laos have taken refuge in Huay Nam Khao in Phetchabun since late 2004. Most claim ties to the US CIA force that battled the communists before the fall of Vientiane in 1975. They say they fled suppression in their homeland.

But Laos and Thailand have rejected the claim and say they consider the group merely illegal migrants who entered Thailand with the hope of being resettled and eventually enjoying a better life abroad. Authorities of the two countries have agreed to repatriate them to their place of origin.

"The repatriation process is not complicated as the group are simply illegal migrants and from now on we can send them back smoothly," Lt General Niphat told reporters after the meeting in a Phitsanulok hotel. Thailand had deported 191 Hmong since May, he said.

Moves to repatriate the Hmong at Phetchabun have been interrupted over recent months because international organisations claimed some Hmong had been harassed and harmed.

Human rights groups such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have strongly condemned the plan, along with Hmong support groups in the US. They say Laos has an ugly record of persecuting groups of jungle Hmong and the "refugees" should be screened by UN officials so that those with legitimate fears don't suffer a traumatic forced return.

In fact, Thailand has quietly repatriated more than 400 Hmong since November 2004, when they initially gathered in Ban Huay Nam Khao, according to a US-based Hmong group who noted some of them were missing.

During the meeting in Phitsanulok, Thai and Lao officials exchanged videos to show how they both treated the Hmong. The Thai video showed the Hmong in Huay Nam Khao, while the Lao video showed the Hmong who had been deported earlier.

Meanwhile, Hmong in Ban Huay Nam Khao said they had resisted repatriation due to fear of punishment by Lao officials. Le Su, a 48 year-old Hmong from Laos, said his group fled suppression at home and would not return. Only 10 per cent of the Hmong in Huay Nam Khao were willing to return, he said.