  The World TodayThe World Today Correspondents
ReportCorrespondents Report  More Current Affairs:    Afghan
asylum seekers in limbo   AM Archive - Thursday, 13 June , 2002 
00:00:00  Reporter: Louise Yaxley  LINDA MOTTRAM: Dispatched
into limbo, that appears to be the status at least for now of
most of the Afghan asylum seekers on Nauru, who've been told by
the UN refugee agency that while they were probably officially
refugees when they left their country under Taliban rule,
they're not now.  Compounding the uncertainty about their
situation, the UN has added that even though they can no longer
be determined to be fleeing persecution, their country is still
too dangerous to go back to.  Their options in the meantime
should include the possibility of interim access to Australia,
says the honorary consul to Australia for Afghanistan, Mahmoud
Saikal. He says a new approach is needed to resolve the
situation for those on Nauru and he wants to meet with them to
help negotiate their fate.  From Canberra, Louise Y