UN fails to move KL on Acehnese

UN fails to move KL on Acehnese

MALAYSIA: United Nations refugee officials said on Friday they had failed to obtain a promise from the Malaysian government that it would not deport more asylum-seekers from Indonesia's war-torn Aceh province.

"We did not get the assurances that there would be a moratorium on deportations," Erika Feller, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) director of international protection, told a news conference

She lead a four-member delegation in talks with Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar and deputy Home Minister Zainal Abidin Zin on Friday.

The delegation, which flew in from Geneva on Wednesday, was returning home on Friday.

UN High Commissioner for Refugees Ruud Lubbers last week voiced concern over Malaysia's plans to expel some 250 Aceh asylum seekers, including women and children, who were arrested last month as they approached the UNHCR offices in Kuala Lumpur. --AFP