Last Update: Friday, January 27, 2006. 11:07pm (AEDT)http://www.abc.net.au/reslib/200601/r69835_194012.jpg The banner on their boat accused Indonesia of committing genocide (file photo). (Torres News)
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Return Papuan refugees: Indonesia
Indonesia says there are no grounds for Australia to grant political asylum to dozens of refugees from its province of Papua and that they should be returned home.
The Papuans arrived on the far northern coast of Australia last Wednesday.
They were aboard a large outrigger canoe bearing a banner accusing Indonesia of committing genocide in the former Dutch colonial territory.
The 43 Papuans from Merauke have since been transferred to a detention centre on remote Christmas Island to be interviewed by Australian immigration authorities.
“There are no grounds to grant them political asylum. We ask for them to be returned home,” Indonesia’s Foreign Affairs Minister Hasan Wirayuda said.
He says that President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and Prime Minister John Howard have discussed the issue over the phone.
No punishment
Meanwhile, Imron Cotan, the secretary-general of Indonesia’s Foreign Affairs Ministry, has told AFP that the refugees will not be punished if they returned home.
“There will be no prosecutions if they return home, back to Indonesia,” he said.
“We made it very clear that the reason they have given [for fleeing], that is genocide or ethnic cleansing in Papua, we can testify to the fact that it is absolutely baseless.”
He says the response from Australia so far has been “encouraging.”
But the issue may prove a thorn in the neighbouring countries’ sides as they negotiate a new security treaty.
The treaty is expected to include a pledge by Australia not to interfere in provinces like Papua.
- AFP