'Thousands more' Tamils to come

LINDSAY MURDOCHOctober 20, 2009

PEOPLE-smuggling networks are moving to bring out thousands more Tamils from war-ravaged northern Sri Lanka, according to the leader of 254 Tamil asylum seekers who have refused to leave their boat moored at an Indonesian port for eight days।
''Alex'' said the networks, operating in Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Britain and Switzerland, were targeting camps in northern Sri Lanka, where fighting trapped 250,000 Tamils earlier this year.
''Every one of those Tamils believe they have no future and want to leave the country at the earliest opportunity,'' he said by telephone from the boat where the asylum seekers are demanding assurances from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees about their future.
But a UNHCR spokesman said last night that the organisation that processes claims for refugee status had not yet received a request from the Indonesian Government to speak with those on board.
Alex said a network of six smugglers to whom the asylum seekers on his boat agreed to pay $US4 million ($A4.3 million) was continuing to telephone people on board and influence their actions.
''They are saying, 'Don't worry, we will help you','' he said.
Alex said the highly organised people-smuggling networks had several ''sub-agents'' in Sri Lanka who had listed people wanting to leave Sri Lanka and who could pay.
The Tamils he is with flew to Singapore or Kuala Lumpur in small groups or alone before smugglers gathered them in a jungle camp to wait for the boat's departure.
While at the camp, the smugglers pressured many of the asylum seekers who had not paid the full $US15,000 for the trip.
The asylum seekers had to pay or be left behind.
Alex insisted the asylum seekers would not leave the boat until they had met the UNHCR and were satisfied they would not have to languish in Indonesia for years before resettlement in Australia or another country.
The UNHCR's spokesman in Canberra said it was ''ready to go and register the asylum seekers and assess their international protection needs if requested to do so by the Government. However, we have not yet received such a request''.
Indonesian immigration and navy officials are trying to convince the asylum seekers to leave the boat peacefully. They ended a 52-hour hunger strike at the weekend.
With agencies