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Australian Customs Patrol - Source: Reuters -
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The Australian federal government insists the asylum seekers aboard the Oceanic Viking will go ashore in Indonesia despite making no apparent progress on the impasse just days before a fresh deadline.
The 78 Sri Lankans are still refusing to leave the Australian customs ship, which has now been anchored off the Indonesian island of Bintan for more than two weeks.
The ship rescued the ethnic Tamils, who were trying to reach Christmas Island, in international waters inside Indonesia's search and rescue zone last month.
Acting Prime Minister Julia Gillard on Tuesday said the government was "patiently and methodically" working to convince the Sri Lankans to leave the ship.
"We made an agreement with Indonesia that we would disembark the people rescued at sea in Indonesia. We are still committed to that course," Gillard told Sky News.
Indonesia has warned it will not give the Oceanic Viking another extension once its security clearance expires on Friday, leaving Australian officials with just three more days to break the deadlock.
Australia has reportedly offered the asylum seekers a deal that would see them leave the ship and enter community housing on Bintan while they wait for fast-tracked resettlement.
But Indonesia has said it would only accept the Tamils if they all agreed to enter a local detention centre.
The Australian Greens said that would ensure that children were put behind bars and razor wire.
"(Prime Minister Kevin) Rudd shouldn't be waiting for people to self-harm. He can make a difference today by bringing the Oceanic Viking to Australia," said Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young.
During a visit to the Sri Lankan capital Colombo, Foreign Minister Stephen Smith and his counterpart Rohitha Bogollagama vowed to work together to improve conditions in Sri Lanka so people would not feel the need to seek refuge in Australia.
"Our two countries will actively work for the reconstruction and rehabilitation of Sri Lanka's northern and eastern provinces, to facilitate the return of displaced civilians to their homes in conditions of dignity, peace and freedom," the ministers said in a joint statement after their meeting.
"Australia, therefore, pledges to strongly support the resettlement and reconstruction programs being led by the Sri Lankan government."
The two countries also signed a memorandum of understanding to strengthen legal cooperation against people smuggling.
Some 274,000 people were displaced during the Sri Lankan civil war and following recent returns, 163,000 people remain in state-run camps where conditions are said to be deteriorating.
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