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Government Urged to Adopt Wait-and-See Approach
Friday, February 1, 2002
(10:11 AM AEDT)
The Australia Broadcasting Corporation

This service may include material from Agence France-Presse (AFP), AAP(International), APTN, Reuters, CNN and the BBC World Service



"We're concerned to start sending back people too early that more trouble will occur and more human rights violations will occur."

* Money useless: detainee
* Amnesty International
* Details
* Labor

The Federal Government's plan to pay Afghan asylum seekers to return home has received a setback, with the Honorary Consul for Afghanistan warning asylum seekers should not be resettled until conditions improve in Afghanistan.

The Australian representative of the interim Afghan Government, Mahmoud Saikal, has welcomed the government's offer of financial assistance for asylum seekers, but says their return should be delayed until work is well underway on rebuilding the country's shattered infrastructure.

"If there is a mentality that the problems of Afghanistan are over and these people should go back home tomorrow, I'm afraid that mentality should change," he said.

Mr Saikal says after 23 years of war and hostilities, the Australian Government must realise it will take a great deal of time to rebuild Afghanistan.
(More: ABC.net.AU News Source)
2002 © The Australia Broadcasting Corporation.

Dan