The federal government has rejected claims that Somali refugees in Indonesia are being forced to come to Australia by boat because Australia refuses to resettle them.

The federal government has rejected claims that Somali refugees in Indonesia would not be accepted through Australia’s resettlement programs.

It follows Australian media reports that Somali refugees had been advised by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees that Indonesia will not resettle Africans, even if they had been granted refugee status by the UN.

Immigration Minister Brendan O’Connor has told the ABC this is not the case.

“We’ve increased the offshore component under our humanitarian program which provides more opportunity for people from all parts of the world including Africa to be resettled here,” Minister O’Connor said.

Mohamed Abdurahman, a Somali refugee, said he had been waiting for resettlement in Indonesia for three years and wondered if the Australian government would not accept his claim for asylum because of his skin colour.

He said that refugees leaving for Australia have told him Somalian refugees in Indonesia are not welcome in Australia.

“They say to us clearly that Australia don’t want to take Somalian community from Indonesia,” he told the ABC.

Last October, the Federal Government increased its humanitarian intake for 2012-13 from 13,750 refugees to 20,000.

Source: SBS