By Peter Alford
INDONESIAN authorities have noted an increased incidence of suspected East African asylum-seekers in the past several months.
Police in western Java and southern Sumatra yesterday confirmed at least three incidents this month involving groups of Somalis and Sudanese.
This follows the interception off Christmas Island on Saturday of an Indonesian fishing boat carrying about 60 people from Somalia and the Middle East.
Australian Somali Association president Abdullahi Farah said at the weekend people-smugglers in Somalia and Kenya were touting Australia as an alternative destination to southern Europe and he expected the traffic to grow.
While atrocious conditions in Somalia and Sudan have generated huge refugee flows, the number of East African "irregular entrants" known to be in Indonesia is tiny by comparison with South Asians and Middle East people.
As of late April, the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees had about 350 Somali refugees and asylum-seekers registered in Indonesia and some 95 Sudanese; most were irregular entrants from Malaysia.
The matter was raised at a recent co-ordination meeting between police, immigration, justice ministry and military officials in Bandung. On June 11, police intercepted a bus carrying 11 Somalis near Lampung, southern Sumatra. The Somalis, now in immigration detention, were travelling from Medan, the usual gathering point used by smugglers for asylum-seekers crossing by boat from Malaysia to Indonesia.
Most Africans need to obtain Indonesian visas to travel there legitimately; however Malaysia allows visa-free entry to Somali and Sudanese visitors.
Indonesian police sources doubt there is yet an "African pipeline" directed towards Australia and say the relatively few Africans were handled by the "normal" networks dealing with the far more numerous Iranians, Afghans, Pakistanis and Iraqis.
Police in western Java and southern Sumatra yesterday confirmed at least three incidents this month involving groups of Somalis and Sudanese.
This follows the interception off Christmas Island on Saturday of an Indonesian fishing boat carrying about 60 people from Somalia and the Middle East.
Australian Somali Association president Abdullahi Farah said at the weekend people-smugglers in Somalia and Kenya were touting Australia as an alternative destination to southern Europe and he expected the traffic to grow.
While atrocious conditions in Somalia and Sudan have generated huge refugee flows, the number of East African "irregular entrants" known to be in Indonesia is tiny by comparison with South Asians and Middle East people.
As of late April, the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees had about 350 Somali refugees and asylum-seekers registered in Indonesia and some 95 Sudanese; most were irregular entrants from Malaysia.
The matter was raised at a recent co-ordination meeting between police, immigration, justice ministry and military officials in Bandung. On June 11, police intercepted a bus carrying 11 Somalis near Lampung, southern Sumatra. The Somalis, now in immigration detention, were travelling from Medan, the usual gathering point used by smugglers for asylum-seekers crossing by boat from Malaysia to Indonesia.
Most Africans need to obtain Indonesian visas to travel there legitimately; however Malaysia allows visa-free entry to Somali and Sudanese visitors.
Indonesian police sources doubt there is yet an "African pipeline" directed towards Australia and say the relatively few Africans were handled by the "normal" networks dealing with the far more numerous Iranians, Afghans, Pakistanis and Iraqis.
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