Top UN official on hand as refugees reach Auckland

1.00pm

A flying visit by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees to Auckland coincided this morning with the arrival of New Zealand's latest contingent of refugees.

Commissioner Ruud Lubbers was due to spend two hours at the Immigration Service's Mangere Refugee Resettlement Centre, after meeting Foreign Affairs Minister Phil Goff.

About an hour before Mr Lubbers' scheduled arrival at the centre in south Auckland, a group of 129 refugees from Afghanistan and Pakistan reached the venue by bus from Auckland Airport.

Most were relatives of the "Tampa boys" rescued by a Norwegian freighter off the West Australian coast in August 2001.

Of the 438 refugees rescued by the Tampa, New Zealand accepted 131 for resettlement, including 36 unaccompanied minors then aged 15 to 18.

The first group of relatives of the Tampa boys arrived in Auckland last month as part of New Zealand's annual quota of 750 refugees. A third and final group is expected in May.

Centre administration co-ordinator Qemaji Murati said Mr Lubbers' visit and the arrival of the group this morning was purely coincidental.

Mr Lubbers, a former Dutch prime minister, flew to Auckland from Sydney late last night.

He is due to meet Immigration Minister Paul Swain this afternoon and to have dinner with Prime Minister Helen Clark tonight.

He meets Governor-General Dame Silvia Cartwright tomorrow morning, before leaving New Zealand in the afternoon.

- NZPA