Accused rioters go back to camp

By CATHERINE MASTERS and JOSIE CLARKE

Ten Iraqi and Iranian refugees charged with rioting have been sent back to a military camp at Whangaparaoa where the trouble began because there is nowhere else for them to go.

The men, five of each nationality and aged from 20 to 49, appeared in the North Shore District Court yesterday, accused of using violence against Kabba Bah, an Immigration Service employee working at the camp.

Judge Barbara Morris remanded the men until October 8, and sent them back to the camp.

She had asked Immigration Service representative Marie Sullivan if there was another hostel that could take some of the men last night but was told that there was nothing available.

Act immigration spokeswoman Penny Webster said the Immigration Service had been naive to put refugees from different ethnic groups in one camp when their countries had a history of conflict.

The Refugee and Migrant Service called on the Government to review the ethnic minorities accepted in each intake - along with the number of single men accepted.

Service director Peter Cotton said there was an unusual number of single men at the Whangaparaoa camp.

Last night, Immigration Minister Lianne Dalziel said she could not comment on the court case or the men's return to Whangaparaoa as she had not been briefed.

Neither would she be drawn on whether the Government should review its intake policies.

But she said there had been a number of refugee groups which had come from "the opposite sides of conflict" and there had been questions of conflict before.

"I'm getting details of that because this is not the first time there has been a problem," Ms Dalziel said.

The Immigration Service said security would be tightened at the Whangaparaoa camp.

It is a temporary home for 130 refugees who were shifted from the Mangere centre to make way for Afghan refugees who were plucked from a sinking boat off Australia by the Norwegian ship, the Tampa.

The Tampa refugees are asylum-seekers and are being held at the centre while they have their refugee status claims processed.

Mr Cotton said the Whangaparaoa camp people were part of the country's refugee quota and they already had permanent residence.

They were staying at the camp while undergoing orientation and were free to move around the community.

"When you place ethnic groups that have traditionally had political and ethnic tensions, or frictions, or wars, side by side in a confined area ... I think you know you're setting yourself up for the possibility of problems like this," Mr Cotton said.

He hoped that the disturbance would not affect the public's view of refugees.

A Herald-DigiPoll taken between last Friday and Sunday showed that public support for the Government's decision to take the Afghan boat people had increased 10 per cent.

A survey of 552 people was first taken before the September 11 terrorist attacks on the United States. It then found that 49 per cent supported their admission, 46.5 per cent were against and 4.4 per cent were undecided.

The latest survey found that 59 per cent of them agreed, 36 per cent disagreed and 5 per cent did not know.

National's immigration spokeswoman, Marie Hasler, yesterday said the Government's decision to take so many asylum-seekers was hasty and it had not prepared appropriate facilities to deal with them.

Opposition leader Jenny Shipley raised questions about security after the Whangaparaoa incident and the fact that two teenagers from the Tampa intake were being detained at the Auckland Central Remand Prison at Mt Eden.

But Prime Minister Helen Clark said that was a blurring of issues "because the fight which broke out in the camp at Whangaparaoa was between refugees sent here under the quota, preselected by the UN High Commissioner for refugees".