Aid staff pull back from asylum boat: Hostage probability

LATEST NEWS: 13:50 WAST


THE International Organisation for Migration has withdrawn its staff from a dock at the Indonesian port city of Merak, fearing they could be taken hostage by 247 increasingly desperate asylum seekers staging a sit-in on their boat.

For more than a month, the Tamils, led by spokesman ''Alex'', have refused to leave, demanding to be taken to Australia or at least be seen by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.

Neither wish has been granted so far and Indonesia is negotiating with Sri Lanka to deport them back to their homeland.

''If we are going to be deported, we will become martyrs,'' said Alex. ''We would rather die than go back.''

According to IOM spokesman Chris Lowenstein-Lom, the staff who have been feeding and providing medical care to the asylum seekers for the past month have been in repeated conflict with them in recent days and are now scared.

''If relations deteriorate further, there is a real risk that they could become hostages,'' he said. ''IOM has therefore pulled back to a building 15 minutes' walk from the dock and the navy has taken over the tent.''

Alex, whose real name is Sanjeev Kuhendrarajah, said the IOM had been increasingly neglectful but he rejected as absurd the suggestion that he or the others on board would take them hostage.

''They are trying to discredit me,'' he said. ''They are trying to make me look like a terrorist.''

He said the IOM - the multinational body charged with caring for irregular migrants - had refused to provide medical attention to one of the asylum seekers, who had since been taken to hospital, a trip paid for by the Tamils.

The port in Merak has been locked down for several days, and tensions are rising. A policeman threatened to shoot the Tamils, according to Alex.

The withdrawal of the IOM means the Indonesian navy has to deliver food, water and organise medical care.

Many of those on the boat are suffering from a variety of ailments as the monsoon season brings heavy rain.
THE AGE 2009

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