About 30 more refugees left an Australian warship off Nauru today, but another 100 were still refusing to leave after two weeks, it was reported.
A group of mainly Iraqi and Palestinian asylum seekers has for the past two weeks refused to leave the ship, the HMAS Manoora, because they want to be taken to Australia.
Some of the 30 who came ashore were clearly reluctant to disembark, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation reported. They were escorted off the boat but were not physically forced to leave.
The number of those holding out has halved since the stand-off began a fortnight ago, effectively stranding the Manooraoff the tiny South Pacific nation of Nauru, with only small groups of refugees leaving the ship at a time.
Australian Defence Minister Mr Peter Reith said yesterday he did not have "a problem with using force if absolutely necessary as a last resort" to make the refugees leave the ship.
But Nauru, which has agreed to process the asylum applications of those aboard, is reluctant to accept asylum seekers forcibly ejected from the troop ship.
The Manoorabrought more than 600 refugees to Nauru nearly three weeks ago, after Australia's ruling conservative coalition refused to accept them.
The operation to offload them has stalled repeatedly as the asylum seekers have protested against the Australian government's refusal to allow them to claim sanctuary here.
AFP