Australia, RI turn away asylum ship carrying Afghans

Australia, RI turn away asylum ship carrying Afghans

CANBERRA (Agencies): Australia refused entry on Monday to a
Norwegian freighter carrying hundreds of Afghan and other boat
people, the first time it has turned back a ship carrying asylum
seekers.

Indonesia, the nearest port of call, and Norway did the same.
The freighter Tampa, the unwitting player in the saga, rescued
369 men, 43 children and 26 women from a sinking wooden ferry
near Indonesia on Sunday after an SOS call.

The asylum seekers forced the captain to go to Australia's
Christmas island, where the ship remained as night fell.

Australian Prime Minister John Howard made it clear he hoped
the tough stance of refusing entry would send a clear message to
a rising tide of illegal immigrants.

"We simply cannot allow a situation to develop where Australia
is seen around the world as a country of easy destination," he
told a news conference in Canberra.

Norway said it had no duty to offer asylum and Foreign
Ministry spokesman Karsten Klepsvik urged Australia and Indonesia
to take responsibility after reports some of those on board were
suffering dysentery and two women were pregnant. Others were
suffering from dehydration.

In the past 11 days, more than 1,500 illegal immigrants,
mainly from Afghanistan, Iraq and Iran, have arrived in Australia
on rickety boats from Indonesia, swelling the country's already
full detention centers.

Howard said more asylum seekers were on their way.
Intelligence indicated more were expected soon but refused to say
whether they would be treated the same way.

"We face the prospect in the next few days of up to 900 people
coming in a wave," Howard told Australian Broadcasting Corp (ABC)
television.

"We are a decent, generous, compassionate, humanitarian
country, but we also have an absolute right to decide who comes
to this country," he said.

Australia took in thousands of Vietnamese boat people in the
late 1970s and 1980s.

Most illegal immigrants use Indonesia as a staging point for
boat trips to Australia and both countries share intelligence
about when such vessels leave and where they are headed.

An Indonesian Navy spokesman said the freighter, owned by
Norwegian firm Wilh Wilhelmsen, would be turned back by Jakarta.
"We can't let the boat enter our waters, if they do we will have
to evict them in accordance with procedures," First Admiral
Franky Kayhatu told Reuters.

Wilh Wilhelmsen vice-president Trond Svensen said it appeared
some of those on board were suffering dysentery and the crew was
waiting for health officials to be winched on board from
helicopters.

"We have got reports there are sick people on board and there
is dysentery and other illnesses as far as we can see," Svensen
told ABC radio.

A company spokesman in Australia told Reuters there are no
plans yet to move the ship, which lay at anchor 12 nautical miles
off Christmas Island, 1,500 km (931 miles) west of Australia.

Christmas island is 350 km (217 miles) south of the Indonesian
island of Java, with Merak the nearest port.

About 5,000 illegal immigrants arrive in Australia each year
and the country is taking a hardline approach to what it terms
"queue jumpers" by adopting one of the world's strictest policies
for dealing with illegal arrivals.

Meanwhile, the leader of the right-wing One Nation Party
called on the Australian government on Monday to cut aid to
Indonesia if Jakarta fails to stem the flow of asylum seekers
pouring into Australia.

One Nation leader Pauline Hanson said the government should
use its A$120 million (US$64 million) annual aid budget to
Indonesia to pressure Jakarta to stop the flow.