The Australian Prime Minister, Mr John Howard, last night turned to the UN Secretary-General, Mr Kofi Annan, for help in resolving the crisis involving about 460 mainly Afghan refugees who have been left stranded off Australia aboard the Norwegian freighter Tampa since Monday morning.
Just hours before Mr Howard's appeal for help, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mrs Mary Robinson, urged the Australian government to honour the UN Convention on Human Rights and allow the refugees land on Australian soil at the nearest port, Christmas Island.
"The convention provides that they should be accepted at the nearest port. I think this issue is a very serious one," Mrs Robinson told BBC radio.
But although it was Mr Howard who contacted Mr Annan to try to find a way out of what has become a major international incident, there was no indication late last night that the Australian government had softened its near week-long stance of refusing the refugees permission to come ashore under any circumstances.
Mr Howard said in Canberra his government was working with the UN in trying to find a solution to the Tampa crisis but reiterated Australia's unwillingness to take the refugees. Instead he hinted that another country might step in and defuse the crisis.
"A short while ago I spoke to the Secretary General of the United Nations, Kofi Annan," Mr Howard said. "I briefed him on discussions which have been under way with a number of countries. I can't at this stage go any further".
"We don't retreat in any way from what we have done, it is the right thing to do ... and it was in Australia's national interest," he said in defence of his tough stance.
He refused to be drawn on whether he had asked Mr Annan to help find countries willing to take the refugees. However, there were some indications last night that New Zealand may be willing help ease the crisis and take at least some of the refugees after the Prime Minister, Ms Helen Clark, gave her strongest indication yet that her country is willing to intervene and help Australia.
"The Australians are in touch with us ... we are having a look to see what we can do," Ms Clark said. "We have a relatively small refugee quota a year because we don't have a big population. We are prepared to look, and I hope others are prepared to look." On Wednesday, she said the Australians should have accepted the refugees, adding had they gone to New Zealand they would have been accepted.
Before New Zealand's intervention, the crisis seemed to have worsened yesterday when the Indonesian government said it would deploy its navy against the Tampa if the Norwegian freighter attempted to return the refugees to its shores. The Australian government has held firm to its view that the Tampa should return its human cargo to Indonesia because they were rescued in Indonesian waters and it was from there they first set sail for Australia.
A spokesman for Indonesia's armed forces, Rear Marshal Graito Usodo, said Indonesia will not allow the asylum seekers into the country and says the military is ready to take any measures to ensure the government is able to carry out the policy.
Earlier yesterday there were clear indications that relations between Australia and New Zealand are seriously strained. Mr Howard said he wanted to send the Immigration Minister, Mr Philip Ruddock, and the Foreign Minister, Mr Alexander Downer, to Indonesia on Tuesday to discuss the Tampa crisis and the smuggling of refugees but the Indonesian government had refused the approach.
The Tampa was still anchored off Christmas Island last night, with the captain refusing to move his vessel out of Australian waters. The state of health of those on board was not clear but none was said to be seriously ill. The 50 soldiers who boarded the vessel on Wednesday were also still on board last night.
