Stove confiscated but boatpeople still locked in standoff with Indonesian navy

இளைஞனாய் இரு!] Stove confiscated but boatpeople still locked in standoff with Indonesian navy


Thursday, October 15, 2009 8:57 PM




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Stove confiscated but boatpeople still locked in standoff with
Indonesian navy

COOKING stoves capable of being used to blow up a cargo boat
containing 253 Sri Lankan asylum-seekers have been confiscated, as the
refugees continue to negotiate with the Indonesian Navy over leaving
their vessel.

The ethnic Tamils had previously threatened to use the stoves to
destroy their boat, which was intercepted in the Sunda Strait between
Java and Sumatra islands at the weekend, if they were forced to
disembark.

“The've begun to think more normally, they want to live now,” said
Colonel S Irawan, Navy commander for the local Merak base. “They had
previously threatened to kill themselves, to blow up the boat, but
that has passed.”

Colonel Irawan and his senior staff are continuing to negotiate with
the Sri Lankans, who were trying to reach Christmas Island after
sailing from international waters between Indonesia and Malaysia.

The refugees still believe they have a chance to get to Australia if
they are allowed to depart again from Merak harbour, where they are
tied up alongside the anti-submarine ship that caught them.

However, according to Colonel Irawan, their diesel engine is no longer
operational after dying during the chase that led to their capture.

But the Sri Lankans have continued to threaten violence if they are
forcibly removed from their boat.

Several of the asylum-seekers have injuries that they claim were
inflicted on them by Sri Lankan Government troops.

Three are in a nearby hospital, including a pregnant woman. Another
man, aged in his mid 50s according to one of the refugees, is in
hospital with back injuries suffered when he leapt from the boat as
the Indonesian Navy approached it in the early hours of Saturday
morning.

Colonel Irawan said he had been ordered by Jakarta to take a “step-by-
step” approach to resolving the standoff, with International
Organisation for Migration staff helping out by providing food and
water for the asylum seekers.

For several hours in the hottest part of the day today they have been
sheltering from the tropical sun under tarpaulins strung across the
deck of the boat, which is about 30m long.

Stephen Fitzpatrick, Merak, Indonesia

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,26209413-601,00.html

Video:

http://www.abc.net.au/news/video/2009/10/15/2714620.htm