Asylum seekers disembark

18 Nov 2009, 8:16 pm   -   Source: AAP
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The Oceanic Viking asylum seeker impasse has finally ended, with the final 56 Sri Lankans leaving the Australian Customs vessel.

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The Oceanic Viking asylum seeker impasse has finally ended, with the final 56 Sri Lankans leaving the Australian Customs vessel.

Under an Australian government deal to entice the Tamils off the ship, those among the 78 already assessed as refugees will be resettled in another country, most likely Australia, within weeks.

The others will be processed quickly and, if found to be genuine refugees, resettled within three months.

After more than four weeks aboard the Australian Customs vessel, and 30 days anchored off the island of Bintan, the 56 remaining asylum seekers were handed over to Indonesian authorities.

Australia picked up the Sri Lankans in international waters inside Indonesia's search and rescue zone last month.

They had been trying to reach Christmas Island.

Indonesian officials, led by senior diplomat Dr Sujatmiko, boarded the Oceanic Viking on Wednesday morning to ensure the asylum seekers genuinely wanted to leave the ship, and to perform other checks.
   
The 46 men, five women and five children were transferred by boat to waiting ferries before being taken to the island, where the men will be held in the Tanjung Pinang Detention Centre, joining 22 others who left the vessel last Friday.
   
Prime Minister Kevin Rudd told parliament the women and children would not be held in the detention centre but in an adjacent facility.

More asylum seekers at sea

Meanwhile, conditions for 246 Tamil asylum seekers still refusing to leave their boat in western Java have become increasingly dire.

The International Organisation for Migration has withdrawn from the port where the asylum seekers have been moored for more than a month, citing fears its officials could be taken hostage.

Its withdrawal has left the group without electricity and medical care, as the area is increasingly lashed by heavy rain.

Children are said to be growing increasingly malnourished.

Situation is 'pretty rough'

"The situation is pretty rough. There's no help here now," the group's spokesman, known as Alex, told AAP.

"They're trying to put us in a position where we have no other choice but to get off the boat.

"We're just holding on as long as we can and hopefully some country will make a decision soon."

The asylum seekers, picked up by Indonesia after a tip-off from Australia, have pleaded with the Rudd government to give them a similar deal given to their compatriots from the Oceanic Viking.

"It is hard to keep our hopes alive but we still hold on to the belief that there will be justice for us," Alex said.
 

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