Sinking boat with over 100 Rohingya allowed to land in Indonesia

KRUENG GEUKUH (Aceh) • More than 100 Rohingya refugees who had been adrift on a sinking boat off the western coast of Indonesia were allowed to disembark early yesterday, after the authorities relented following international pressure to give them refuge.

In a video seen by Reuters, the group, consisting of mainly women and children, left the boat in heavy rain and boarded a bus, while the authorities sprayed them with disinfectant.

The refugees had been packed into a wooden skiff, which appeared to have a makeshift sail.

United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) official Oktina Hafanti told reporters that the 105 refugees, including 50 women and 47 children, would be kept in quarantine for 10 to 14 days and undergo health checks.

They would later be sent to shelters in the Indonesian cities of Medan and Surabaya, said the local mayor Suaidi Yahya.

The group of Rohingya, which also included some pregnant women, had been spotted by local fishermen off the coast of Aceh province on Sunday after spending 28 days at sea.

The authorities had initially agreed to provide humanitarian aid before planning to turn the vessel away, but changed that decision after warnings about the condition of the vessel and calls from UNHCR and groups such as Amnesty International to let the boat land.

A fisherman who had approached the boat when it was at sea said the vessel had sustained engine damage and was leaking and at risk of sinking.

He also said some refugees had indicated that they needed food.

Local Acehnese told Agence France-Presse that they were motivated by memories of foreign assistance during more than 30 years of conflict and the devastating Boxing Day tsunami that killed hundreds of thousands in 2004.

"We sincerely want to help, especially because we know how it felt getting help from other countries during the tsunami," said Mr Ridwan, 56, a local fisherman who, like many Indonesians, goes by only one name.

"Everybody was eager to help since the beginning," he added.

Mr Usman Hamid, executive director for Amnesty International's Indonesia chapter, said although the government had reacted late, he appreciated that the authorities had listened to the Acehnese fishermen and accepted the refugees.

The vessel was towed to shore by an Indo nesian navy ship.

Indonesia is not a signatory to the 1951 UN Convention on Refugees and is predominately seen as a transit country for those seeking asylum to a third country.

Rohingya Muslims from Myanmar have for years sailed to countries such as Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia between November and April when the seas are calm.

Hundreds of them went to Aceh in intervals in recent years.

Many have been turned away, at times after spending months at sea.

REUTERS, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE