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Orphan's future hinging on outcome of search for siblings in Vietnam

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UNITED Nations officers are launching a search which may lead them to cancel the repatriation of a 16-year-old Vietnamese orphan and send him to the United States instead.

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The inquiry in north Vietnam this week follows a report to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) involving the relatives of Whitehead camp detainee Ngo Van Ha.

UNHCR head of mission in Hong Kong Jahanshah Assadi said his agents in Ho Chi Minh City would travel to Ha's hometown in search of his younger brother and sister, reported to have been thrown out of their uncle's home.

Ha's repatriation was on hold until the UN could verify and consider information gathered by the boy's lawyers, Pam Baker and Rodney Pritchard, Mr Assadi said.

A critical factor is understood to be the UNHCR's general policy of reuniting unaccompanied minors with their closest blood relatives.

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A source said Ha's closest blood relatives were two paternal aunts in Vietnam, but his most intimate family relationship was with the Los Angeles couple he knows as ''uncle'' and ''aunt''.

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