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15 Sri Lankan Refugees Flown Out of Indonesia
Putri Prameshwari | December 20, 2009

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Fifteen of the 78 Sri Lankan refugees who for weeks refused to leave an Australian vessel docked in Sumatra have now left Indonesia, a Ministry of Foreign Affairs official said on Sunday.

Sujatmiko, who has led Indonesia’s negotiations with Australia on the issue, said the 15 refugees had been separated into two groups and were flown to Australia and Romania.

“They left Indonesia yesterday [Saturday],” he said, adding that those who left were mostly families.

Sujatmiko said two people had left for Australia, while the other 13 were flown to an evacuation center in Romania. There, they will be processed by Canada, which has promised to take them in.

Sujatmiko added that the remaining 63 refugees were being processed by Australia and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. He declined to reveal the countries that had agreed to take them.

The 78 Sri Lankans, reportedly 68 men, five women and five children, were aboard an Australian government armed patrol ship, which remained docked in Riau Islands for weeks.

The MV Oceanic Viking rescued the 78 asylum seekers in October when their boat sank in Indonesian waters as they were attempting to enter Australia.

The migrants claimed they faced persecution in their home country, where the conflict between the Tamil Tigers separatist group and the government ended earlier this year.

In mid-November, 56 of the migrants agreed to leave the MV Oceanic Viking to be housed at an Australian-funded immigration detention center in Tanjung Pinang, while their refugee claims were verified.

The group had refused to come ashore to Indonesia, emphasizing that resettlement in Australia was their goal.

Indonesia has seen a sharp increase in the number of migrants using its waters as a gateway to Australia because of its 17,000 islands scattered just to the north of the country.

Another group of 255 Sri Lankans remain stranded at Cilegon port in Banten, refusing to be moved to a detention center.

Deputy Foreign Minister Triyono Wibowo said that those who had their refugee claims accepted by the UNHCR would be resettled within weeks.