Australia to aid Sri Lankan provinces

ArticleData Array ( [Article] => Array ( [article_id] => 1128712 [headline] => Australia to aid Sri Lankan provinces [abstract] => Australia says it will help Sri Lanka 'rehabilitate' its northern and eastern provinces in an attempt to reduce the flow of people fleeing the nation. [keywords] => sri lanka, australia, mou, asylum [content] =>

Australia says it will help Sri Lanka 'rehabilitate' its northern and eastern provinces in an attempt to reduce the flow of people fleeing the nation.

The two nations signed a memorandum of understanding to strengthen legal co-operation to "increase opportunities for investigating and prosecuting people smugglers".

But Foreign Minister Stephen Smith and his counterpart Rohitha Bogollagama also vowed to work together to improve conditions in Sri Lanka so people won't need to seek refuge in Australia.

"Australia welcomes the end of the conflict situation that prevailed for over two-and-a-half decades in some parts of Sri Lanka," the ministers said in a joint statement after meeting in
Colombo.

"Our two countries will actively work for the reconstruction and rehabilitation of Sri Lanka's northern and eastern provinces, to facilitate the return of displaced civilians to their homes in conditions of dignity, peace and freedom.

"Australia therefore pledges to strongly support the resettlement and reconstruction programs being led by the Sri Lankan government."
   
About a third of those displaced during the conflict between the Sri Lankan government and the Tamil Tigers have returned home in the past three months, the UN's refugee agency said late last week.

Some 274,000 people were displaced during the civil war and following the recent returns, 163,000 people still remain in state-run camps where conditions are said to be deteriorating.
   
In their joint statement, the Australian and Sri Lankan foreign ministers also agreed to "undertake a public information campaign to alert Sri Lankan citizens to the dangers of maritime people smuggling".
   
They pledged to further enhance co-operation "against the criminal organisers of the people smuggling trade".

The memorandum of understanding will strengthen extradition arrangements for people involved in people smuggling and allow for the seizure of the proceeds of their criminal activity.
   
Some 78 Sri Lankan asylum seekers aboard the Australian customs vessels the Oceanic Viking are currently refusing to disembark in Indonesia.

A further 250 Tamils who were intercepted by the Indonesian navy en route to Australia in October have now spent four weeks aboard their rickety wooden boat moored in the Javanese port city of Merak.
 

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[content] =>

Foreign Minister Stephen Smith, headed for urgent talks in Colombo on stemming the flow of asylum seekers to Australia, wants Sri Lanka to accelerate its resettlement program for the displaced.

With the stand-off between the 78 Tamils and authorities aboard the Australian Customs vessel, the Oceanic Viking, now in its third week, Mr Smith flew to Sri Lanka on Sunday to meet Sri Lanka's Foreign Minister, Rohitha Bogollagama.

It is the first visit to Sri Lanka by an Australian foreign minister since 2003.

'Political reform'

"I will reiterate Australia's view that having won the war, Sri Lanka now needs to win the peace through political reform and reconciliation," Mr Smith said on Sunday before departing for Colombo.

"Australia will also urge the Sri Lankan government to build on recent returns of civilians from displaced peoples camps to the community, by accelerating the resettlement of displaced civilians."

The federal government is providing $35 million to Sri Lanka in development assistance with a focus on humanitarian assistance and support for the resettlement of displaced civilians within Sri Lanka.

Australia's special representative to Sri Lanka, John McCarthy, will also take part in the talks.

The high level talks come with Sri Lanka's high commissioner to Australia standing by claims the majority of asylum seekers holed up on the Oceanic Viking are criminals.

Senaka Walgampaya said many of the group were fugitives and should be brought to justice.

Stand-off continues

The vessel, which is anchored off the island of Bintan, has been allowed to stay in Indonesian waters for another week as Australian officials try to convince the asylum seekers to disembark voluntarily.

Another group of 250 Tamils aboard a boat in the port of Merak in Indonesia are also refusing to leave their vessel.

Both groups of asylum seekers want to be resettled in Australia, having fled their home country amid claims of ethnic cleansing following the end to a civil war between the Tamil Tigers and Sri Lankan government.

Mr Walgampaya has rejected the claims.

"They are making use of the post-conflict situation in Sri Lanka to make that excuse to seek asylum in Australia," he told Network Ten on Sunday.

"Sri Lanka suspects a lot of these people are fugitives from justice, so in that event they have to be brought to justice."

His comments follow allegations that the spokesman for the 250 asylum seekers aboard a boat moored in Merak is a people smuggler.

Accusations of people smuggling

Mr Walgampaya said the man, known as Alex, had been running a people-smuggling operation out of Chennai, India, for the past five years.

The opposition has maintained its attack over the government's handling of the stand-off aboard the Oceanic Viking with Nationals Senate Leader Barnaby Joyce saying the group should be sent back to Sri Lanka.

"If you want to show strength, if you want to be decisive ... then send the Oceanic Viking to Colombo and you will have made a strong statement," he told the Nine Network on Sunday.

"If we are going to have people in detention from Sri Lanka, then how about we have them in detention in Sri Lanka."

Refugee Council of Australia president John Gibson said that if the government is unable to resolve the stand-off in coming days it must resettle the asylum seekers.

"If a negotiated settlement cannot be reached in coming days, Australia must bring the Oceanic Viking to Australian territory to allow the processing of asylum claims to begin and to defuse a crisis which has damaged all concerned," he said.

 

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Ten women among a group of almost 250 Sri Lankan asylum seekers refusing to leave their boat in Indonesia have begun another hunger strike.

The move comes after the spokesman for the Tamils, known as Alex, confessed he was once a member of a violent gang in Canada and was jailed for making death threats.

The Tamils, who were intercepted by the Indonesian navy en route to Australia on October 11, have now spent four weeks moored in the Javanese port city of Merak.

They say they will come ashore after they meet with a representative of the UNHCR but claim the Indonesian government is refusing to allow such a meeting.

Most adults on board the boat took part in a hunger strike last month but abandoned it after two days.

But Alex - who the Sri Lankan foreign ministry has named as Kulaendrarajah Sanjeev - said the 10 women, who began the fresh hunger strike on Monday morning, were growing desperate.

"They would like to let the world know that they want a future for their children," Alex told AAP, adding others were likely to join the hunger strike.

Alex again hit back at Sri Lankan government claims that he has worked as a people smuggler, calling them "completely false".

But he admitted he had belonged to a notorious Tamil gang in Canada.

"It's true," he told ABC Radio.

"I did get involved in some things in Canada that I shouldn't have gotten involved in," he said, adding he "did my time in jail".

The most serious conviction was for making death threats.

Alex was deported in 2003 and returned to Sri Lanka.

Alex said the Sri Lankan government dug up the dirt because it was desperate to divert attention from its role in human rights abuses, particularly against Tamils.

"The fact that I lived in Canada for a period of time and was removed from Canada has no bearing whatsoever on my claim or the claim of the other 250 people for asylum," he said.

Alex said he hoped human rights would be high on the agenda during Foreign Minister Stephen Smith's talks with the Sri Lankan government in Colombo on Monday.

He dismissed as "ill-informed and reckless" Nationals Senator Barnaby Joyce's call for Tamil asylum seekers to be returned to Sri Lanka.

[content_type_id] => 3 [site_name] => World News Australia [articledate] => 9 November 2009 [articletime] => 9 November 2009 [display_order] => 0 ) [2] => Array ( [article_id] => 1128192 [headline] => Indonesia stance may put asylum 'deal' at risk [abstract] => Indonesia says it won't accept the 78 stay-put Sri Lankan asylum seekers aboard the Oceanic Viking unless they agree to enter a local detention centre. [content] =>

Indonesia says it won't accept the 78 stay-put Sri Lankan asylum seekers aboard the Oceanic Viking unless they agree to enter a local detention centre.

It is a stand that could jeopardise a resolution to the two-week-old impasse.

Reports on Monday said Australia was close to securing a deal that would see the Tamils enter community housing on the Indonesian island of Bintan to await fast-tracked resettlement.

But senior Indonesian diplomat Dr Sujatmiko said Jakarta had told Australia that community housing was not an option.

"Definitely no," Dr Sujatmiko told reporters. "As far as I'm concerned, we have made it clear to the Australian government that if the Sri Lankan refugees are ready to disembark from the vessel we will accommodate them in the immigration detention centre in (Bintan's) Tanjung Pinang."

Even if the Tamils agree to enter the detention centre, the central government still has to convince local authorities to allow it, Dr Sujatmiko said. Indonesia remained committed to helping Australia solve the impasse, now in its third week, but it would not give the Oceanic Viking another extension once its security clearance expired on Friday, he said.

Australian embassy officials on Monday again visited the ship, which has begun using a powerful water hose to keep Australian and Indonesian media from communicating with the asylum seekers.

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said Australia would remain patient. "Let me be absolutely clear that policy of ours in the Australian national interest will not be changed in response to any protests, any threats, any threats of harm, and threats of self harm," Mr Rudd told reporters in Bathurst. "

We will take as long as it takes to resolve this matter and any other matters into the future."

His comments came as Foreign Minister Stephen Smith met his Sri Lankan counterpart in Colombo for talks on how to stem the flow of asylum seekers. Immigration Minister Chris Evans said Australia was poised to provide Sri Lanka with ongoing assistance to reconstruct the country after years of civil war.

"We've obviously provided a lot of aid already and the idea is to work with them to ensure the Tamil people feel safe, so they are able to be moved out of those camps and settle and rebuild their lives," he said. Meanwhile, 10 Tamil women among a group of 250 refusing to leave their boat in Java, began another hunger strike on Monday.

The Tamils, who were intercepted by the Indonesian navy en route to Australia on October 11, have now spent four weeks aboard the rickety wooden boat moored in the Javanese port city of Merak.

They say they will come ashore after they meet with a representative of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees but claim the Indonesian government is refusing to allow such a meeting.

The fresh hunger strike - an earlier one ended after just two days - came as the spokesman for the group, known as Alex, confessed he was once a member of a violent gang in Canada and was jailed for making death threats.

The developments came amid mixed poll results for Mr Rudd in relation to the asylum seeker issue.

A Newspoll, published on Monday, showed 53 per cent of people thought the government was doing a bad job of handling the influx of asylum seekers. But a Nielsen poll, also published on Monday, found Australians were more evenly split with 45 per cent approving of Mr Rudd's handling of the issue.

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