ABC AUSTRALIA, 14/11/2003 22:13:59
Indonesia denies it agreed to Australia's asylum seeker expulsion
plan
The Indonesian Government claims it was assured by Australian authorities that 14
Kurdish asylum seekers towed aboard a boat out of Australian waters last week
would be directed back to their own homeland.
The group is in custody in Indonesia after their requests for asylum on Australia's
Melville Island were ignored.
Australia's Prime Minister John Howard has thanked Indonesia for its co-operation in
dealing with the asylum seekers.
But a spokesman for the Indonesian foreign Ministry, Marty Natalagawa, says
Indonesia did not agree to the expulsion plan nor did it give any assistance.
However, he says information was shared with Indonesia that the boat was to be
driven out of Australian waters.
"But it is not a matter of them being pushed back to Indonesian waters," he said.
"We were assured that they were to be taken out of Australia's waters not into
Indonesia's waters rather in the directions whence it had come from."
The 14 men were aboard a fishing boat skippered by an Indonesian crew when they
arrived at Melville Island, north of Australia, on November 4.
Defence force personnel boarded the boat and escorted it out of Australian waters.
Melville Island was then retrospectively excised from Australia's migration zone,
effectively making it impossible for the 14 men to apply for asylum.
14/11/2003 22:13:59 | ABC Radio Australia News
© 2001 Australian Broadcasting Corporation |
