Asylum seekers: No answers in Jakarta meeting
![Food and other essentials have been taken aboard the Oceanic Viking, as 78 Sri Lankan asylum seekers continue to refuse to leave the ship. [ABC]](http://www.abc.net.au/reslib/200911/r463675_2290625.jpg "Food and other essentials have been taken aboard the Oceanic Viking, as 78 Sri Lankan asylum seekers continue to refuse to leave the ship. [ABC]")
PHOTO
Food and other essentials have been taken aboard the Oceanic Viking, as 78 Sri Lankan asylum seekers continue to refuse to leave the ship. [ABC]
Geoff Thompson, Indonesia correspondent
Last Updated:
A high-level meeting between Australian and Indonesian officials in Jakarta has failed to resolve an impasse over 78 Sri Lankan asylum seekers.
They are aboard an Australian customs service vessel, Oceanic Viking.
Officials informed about the meeting say the stalemate is proving difficult to overcome as long as the Australian Government remains unable to persuade the Sri Lankans to voluntarily leave the customs ship.
The meeting, which continued for most of Tuesday, failed to find a resolution to the impasse.
It ended with participants unable to make any official statements about progress in the negotiations.
"We still have to wait to see how Australia deals with the situation on board before we can see how to move forward with the processing", an official said.
The offical said negotiations were continuing over certain demands which were difficult to accommodate within Indonesia's humanitarian policies.
   |
   |
Features
News programs on Australia Network
News programs on Radio Australia
 
|
