Tuesday, October 20, 2009

Lankan asylum seekers to land at Indonesian port

Australia has reached an agreement with Indonesia to have 78 Sri Lankan Tamil asylum seekers land at an Indonesian port. Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono reached agreement during talks in Jakarta tonight, Foreign Minister Stephen Smith told the ABC's Lateline program.
"President Yudhoyono has advised that for humanitarian reasons and for safety at sea reasons, the Oceanic Viking will come to the port of Merak, where .... the 78 people on board will be put into temporary accommodation,'' he said.
"They will be put into temporary accommodation and they will be looked after until such timer as the international agencies have had an opportunity to interview and process them."
The group, which includes at least five women and five young children, was transferred to the Oceanic Viking after sending out a distress call in the Indonesian search and rescue zone.
Earlier today, and before the deal was struck, Acting Prime Minister Julia Gillard said the Government would follow the letter of the law in dealing with the 78.
"We will act in a way entirely consistent with our legal obligations,'' Ms Gillard said.
"We will follow the letter of the law.''
But Ms Gillard said it is the Government's preference for the group to be dealt with by Indonesia, having said their vessel was in Indonesia's area of responsibility when intercepted.
Mr Smith said the the agreement was "a very good humanitarian result''.
"It is a very good example of co-operation between Australia and Indonesia and it's a very good example of Australia quite correctly discharging its humanitarian and safety at sea obligations, and that's been a very important part of this process,'' he said. (AFP)

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