Indonesia checking reports asylum standoff resolved

Jakarta - Indonesia said Tuesday it was checking reports that Sri Lankan asylum seekers aboard an Australian customs ship moored off Indonesia's Bintan island had agreed to disembark after weeks of standoff. The 78 Sri Lankans were picked up by the Australian ship Oceanic Viking in international waters one month ago, while on their way to Australia, claiming persecution in their homeland.

They were taken to port on Bintan but had refused to disembark, prompting weeks of standoff.

Last week, 22 of them agreed to go ashore and enter at an Australian-funded refugee center on Bintan, after being promised speedy processing for their refugee claims by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.

Australian media reported Tuesday that the standoff with the remaining migrants had ended.

The website of Australian broadcaster ABC said Australian officials had informed their Indonesian counterparts that the 56 Sri Lankans still aboard had agreed to disembark.

"We are still unable to confirm the reports but if there's such information it's only natural for our officials on the ground to be prepared," Indonesian Foreign Ministry spokesman Teuku Faizasyah said.

Most Australia-bound emigrants, mainly from Sri Lanka and Afghanistan, arrive on small boats from Indonesia, where they have paid smugglers to arrange their passage.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/295042,indonesia-checking-reports-asylum-standoff-resolved.html.