Asylum seekers fly to Portugal<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): The 21 East Timorese youths who sought political
\nasylum at the Japanese embassy on Tuesday left for Portugal
\nyesterday afternoon after Lisbon said it was ready to accept
\nthem.<\/p>\n
The young men, aged between 19 and 25, were transported from
\nthe embassy compound to the airport in a passenger bus owned by
\nthe Indonesian Red Cross, flanked by two cars carrying officials
\nof the International Committee of the Red Cross.<\/p>\n
They then boarded commercial flight 832 of the Dutch carrier
\nKLM, which took off at 7:40 p.m. The East Timorese are to be
\ntaken to Lisbon via Amsterdam.<\/p>\n
Portugal said on Tuesday that it was willing to take in the
\nasylum-seekers. \"I cannot ignore a request from anybody who seeks
\nrefuge in our country. That is obvious,\" Portuguese Prime
\nMinister Antonio Guterres said, as quoted by Reuters.<\/p>\n
In Osaka, Japanese Foreign Minister Yohei Kono reportedly
\ndiscussed the incident with Indonesia's Minister of Foreign
\nAffairs Ali Alatas, who is there for the APEC meeting.<\/p>\n
\"We've been consulting with the Indonesian government,\" a
\nspokesman of the Japanese foreign ministry told reporters. He
\nadded that both Japan and Indonesia \"clearly understand and
\nrespect their human rights\".<\/p>\n
Alatas had little to say about the incident.<\/p>\n
\"All I can say is that the pattern has become a bit boring,\"
\nhe said. He added that every time there is a major international
\nconference \"a few of our youngsters decide to scale the fence of
\nan embassy.\"<\/p>\n
He said the incident had been provoked by outside parties,
\nsince the youths' statements \"were too-beautiful letters\" which
\ncould not have been written by the young East Timorese.<\/p>\n
\"Nobody's taking this seriously anymore,\" he added.<\/p>\n
Alatas said that Indonesia and Japan were quietly resolving
\nthe issue. \"Indonesia's attitude has been clear from the
\nbeginning. If they want to leave the country, they can leave the
\ncountry,\" he added.<\/p>\n
The 21 East Timorese scaled the embassy's fence on Tuesday
\nmorning, in full view of the passing traffic. They were the third
\ngroup to enter a foreign embassy in two months. Last year, just
\nbefore the previous APEC meeting, 29 East Timorese entered the
\nU.S. Embassy in Jakarta and staged a lengthy sit-in. (01\/emb)<\/p>",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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