Australia Refusing Refugees Entry Thursday August 30, 2001 7:20 pm
CHRISTMAS ISLAND, Australia (AP) - Caught in diplomatic cross fire from three nations and international aid agencies, hundreds of asylum seekers on Thursday sweated out a fourth day on the deck of a Norwegian cargo ship off a remote tropical Australian island. Their fate remained uncertain Thursday as elite Australian troops stood watch, ordered to stop the refugees from jumping overboard or the ship from docking. Australian Prime Minister John Howard told U.N. secretary general Kofi Annan by telephone that he would not allow the vessel to drop off the estimated 460 people aboard, whom he maintained had flouted immigration rules. Howard is defying growing international criticism of his demands that the captain of the freighter Tampa leave waters around Christmas Island. His hardline stance appears to have gained him greater popularity domestically as Australia prepares for a general election later this year. Opinion polls say many Australians want growing illegal immigration stopped. Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said his nation of 18 million people and thousands of miles of coastline was determined not to become ``a pushover'' for crime syndicates illegally bringing in would-be refugees, mainly through neighboring Indonesia. ``Now we want to send a message to these people traffickers that we are going to be very, very firm in making sure that this ugly trade stops,'' he told British Broadcasting Corp. radio. The red-hulled and heavily laden Tampa rescued the refugees - who are mostly Afghani - from a sinking Indonesian ferry in the Indian Ocean on Monday. It headed for Christmas Island after some of those rescued threatened to kill themselves or attack the crew. Others complained of sickness. Howard ordered squads of commandos to secure the ship after it entered Australian waters without permission on Tuesday. As the ship floats a few miles from the jungle-covered island, those on board huddled for shelter under tarpaulins or inside empty cargo containers. Indonesia, Norway and international aid agencies want Australia to take in the refugees. Instead, Howard has urged Indonesia or other nations to take them in so U.N. agencies can determine whether they are genuine refugees. Newly elected Indonesian President Megawati Sukarnoputri has so far refused to take them in either. The sprawling Southeast Asian nation already has 1.3 million of its own people displaced and homeless from communal, religious and separatist conflicts. U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Mary Robinson said Australia bore ``primary responsibility'' for the migrants and should accept them. Some fear that violence could soon flare on the ship if the crisis is not resolved. ``The people on board will become increasingly agitated and the ship's captain knows he can not stay there forever,'' said Michael McKinley, an analyst at the Australian National University. In a bid to resolve the standoff, New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark said she would look at the possibility of helping the refugees. On Thursday, international aid agencies began lobbying the government for access to them. Two officials from the International Committee of the Red Cross were expected to arrive on Christmas Island on Friday to check claims by Australian military doctors that those on board were healthy. The army began ferrying supplies to the ship by helicopter Thursday afternoon. Extra military personnel were also flown to the island and tents were erected on its shoreline. Wallenius Wilhelmsen, the company that operates the Tampa, said it had no plans to move the ship, claiming it was not legally certified to carry people without sufficient lifeboats and safety equipment. http://www.guardian.co.uk/breakingnews/International/0,3561,1139137,00.html
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