Flight from hardship to freedom

By NATASHA HARRIS and ANGELA GREGORY

Iraqi and Afghan refugees who arrived in Auckland yesterday after being detained for more than a year in remote Pacific Island camps have spoken of their relief at being allowed into New Zealand.

The 150 men, women and children walked from a special charter flight tired but saying they were glad to be off Manus Island in Papua New Guinea and off Nauru.

Afghan Momtaz Ali smiled from ear to ear when he walked through Customs about 1.20am yesterday, catching the eye of his long-lost friends who already live here.

"I am very happy to be here - I want to talk all night with them," he told the Herald.

Ali, aged 27, said he was happy to have left Nauru, where Australia is sending asylum seekers who have tried to land illegally on its shores.

"I didn't like it all in Nauru as there was no power or no water for four months. My hair began to fall out and the water was salty."

New Zealand accepted the group after they were cleared as genuine refugees by the United Nations. They are part of New Zealand's annual quota intake of 750 refugees.

They will be housed for the coming weeks at the Mangere Refugee Resettlement Centre in South Auckland.

The Australian Government launched its so-called "Pacific Solution" because of the problem of illegal migrants sailing to its shores after the controversy over the Tampa boatpeople in August 2001.

In that incident, a boat carrying illegal immigrants, mainly from Afghanistan, began sinking and the Tampa, a Norwegian vessel, rescued those on board. But for days Australia refused to allow them ashore, sparking international condemnation from refugee support groups, until eventually the Nauru solution was arranged.

New Zealand accepted 131 people from the Tampa almost immediately and assessed their claims for asylum here. All were granted refugee status. Many were fleeing the Taleban regime, which was linked to the terrorist network al Qaeda.

Australia has also begun a repatriation project for illegal migrants on Nauru or Manus and is paying people $2000 to return to their home country.

Yesterday in Auckland, the latest group was met by refugee workers, friends and Immigration officials as they landed at Auckland Airport.

The group comprised mainly adults, the men dressed in casual Western clothes and the women in long dresses and head-scarves. All had trolleys full of bags and looked healthy but tired.

Iraqi Haydar Allami, 22, said it had been difficult on Nauru.

"I feel very good to be here as it was very hard in the camp. They only had fans to deal with the intense heat."

Some of the refugees had friends to meet them, like the 10 Afghan men who had waited patiently for more than two hours for the refugees to clear Immigration and Customs.

Mohammad Yaqubi, 37, and Mohammad Fahim, 27, were happy that their friends could finally live a peaceful life in New Zealand.

"We feel free and very happy here and, like us, our friends are lucky to come here. It's a very peaceful country and we live in good conditions. Nauru didn't give that much freedom," said the pair, who have lived in Auckland for six months.

The handful of children who arrived looked happy and in high spirits, especially 10-year-old Firaz Rasan, from Iraq. He acted as the interpreter for his two teenage sisters and mother, saying, "We not like Nauru".

"It was dirty and small there so we're very happy to be in New Zealand," he said.

Four buses waited to take the refugees to the Mangere centre.

An Immigration Service official said 66 refugees had come from Nauru and 84 from Manus Island.

Some of the refugees had been rescued from the Tampa.

Other refugees who have arrived from Nauru in the last 16 months have resettled around New Zealand.

The executive director of the Refugee Migrant Service, Peter Cotton, said Afghan and Iraqi refugees had generally settled well. Many had obtained jobs, relieving labour shortages in small towns, and the children appeared to be coping with school.

Mr Cotton said the biggest challenge was dealing with the single men who had no family support here and were preoccupied with the fate of their relatives.

He said most of the refugees still needed to improve their English to get better jobs.

* The new arrivals bring New Zealand's total from Nauru, Papua New Guinea and the Tampa to 399. The latest group will count as part of the annual intake of 750 refugees.

Herald feature: Immigration