Some of the 7,000 Lao-born Hmong immigrants of Baan Huay Nam Khao who have been moved to Tambon Kheg-Noi, four kilometres north of their previous home at Tambon Wang Ban in Khao Kho district, Phetchabun. Four of every 10 are children.

Security officials in Phetchabun yesterday relocated more than 7,000 Lao-born Hmong immigrants to a new residential site four kilometres away from where they had lived with Thai-born Hmongs.

The move stemmed from complaints by Thai-born Hmongs that routine body and material searches and ID checks by officials - to differentiate between the two groups for security reasons - had made their lives and farming difficult.

The new site is in Tambon Kheg-Noi, north of their previous site in Tambon Wang Ban in Khao Kho district. Of the 7,653 Lao-born Hmongs relocated, 40 per cent are children.

Another two groups of Lao-born Hmong immigrants will soon be relocated to the new site - those moving from Phoo Da Phor and those calling themselves "The Peace Group" who had lived at Tambon Wang Ban.

The new site cost the military Bt60 million to build. It will have free medical services provided by Medecins Sans Frontiers staff who also work at the site in Tambon Wang Ban.

Security sources with the First Cavalry Division, which manages all affairs relating to Hmong immigrants, said both groups of Hmongs were happy with the relocation. Separation would make differentiating them easier.

Bee Sakcharoenchaikul, a Hmong descendant and village head in Tambon Kheg-Noi, welcomed the relocation, saying it would ease overpopulation at Tambon Wang Ban while making people's lives, farming and travel much easier.