100 Afghan Refugees Go Ashore on Nauru

About 100 Afghan refugees arrived Wednesday on the tiny Pacific island republic of Nauru after spending three weeks at sea, caught in an international dispute over who would take them.

The refugees were from among 433 mostly Afghan asylum seekers saved from a sinking Indonesian ferry by a Norwegian freighter in late August. They were taken toward Australia but were denied entry as part of that government’s hard line against illegal immigration.

Nauru agreed to take them in exchange for $10.4 million in aid while their fate is being determined.

The Australian navy troop ship Manoora, which remained moored off Nauru, is also carrying 230 Iraqi and Palestinian asylum seekers picked up in Australian waters Sept. 7. It will discharge the remainder of its human cargo in coming days.

Hundreds of Nauru residents turned up at the island’s main port to watch the refugees, who included three women and six children, being ferried to land on two Australian navy landing craft. Nauru women performed traditional dances, and each refugee was given a small bunch of flowers.

They were then shepherded toward six dusty school buses for the three-mile ride to a makeshift refugee camp built by Australian troops in Nauru’s barren interior.

As they approached the dock, some of the refugees held up a banner thanking Nauru “for giving protection and shelters for Afghan refugees.”

Australia’s decision to turn away the asylum seekers sparked international outrage but was applauded domestically.

All of the refugees were wearing Western-style clothes and carrying black garbage bags believed to contain their belongings.

A migration official who did not want to be identified but had been on board the Manoora with the refugees said they had been through “living hell” in the course of their odyssey. He did not elaborate.

As the navy finishes unloading the refugees, 150 women and children will be flown from Nauru to New Zealand for processing of their asylum bids.

Staff members from the Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees said they would begin reviewing refugee applications early next week. A spokeswoman said it would most likely take the 10-person team several weeks to review all the applications.

Refugees whose applications are rejected will probably be deported by Nauru.