KABUL, Dec 15: A group of former Afghan asylum-seekers arrived in Kabul from the barren Pacific island of Nauru on Sunday with harsh words for their treatment at the hands of the Australian government.

Some 119 people, several carrying posters condemning Australia, flew in on an Air Holland jet chartered by the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and paid for by Canberra.

Many were among 433 asylum-seekers rescued from a sinking Indonesian boat by Norwegian cargo vessel Tampa in August 2001 in an incident which prompted Australia to impose controversial new measures against migrants.

Amid international uproar, the Tampa was refused permission to deposit its human cargo on the Australian outpost of Christmas Island, leaving the bedraggled refugees trapped on deck without adequate food or medical care.

They were eventually removed to detention centres on Nauru after Australian SAS troops boarded the vessel and transferred them to a Navy warship.

“We were stuck on these boats for more than a week with no food. Most of the people had fainted, we were weak with hunger,” said Najibullah, who said he left Afghanistan fearing the former Taliban regime.

“Then armed people came and forced us to go to Nauru where we were kept in prison conditions for one-and-a-half years.

“These people say they obey human rights, but the way they treat people, it is clear they do not.”

Najibullah, 19, said he and others were forced to return to Afghanistan because of appalling conditions on Nauru, where 433 of his countrymen remain. Only 87 have been accepted as genuine refugees who will be granted asylum.

“We had to go, conditions were terrible on the camp, there was not enough food or water.”

The Nauru camp was set up by Australian Prime Minister John Howard’s conservative government as part of a so-called “Pacific Solution” to halt a tide of boat people who sought to enter the country last year.

Sunday’s returnees were repatriated through an IOM-administered voluntary deportation scheme under which they received around 1,000 US dollars from Canberra.

Cy Winter, the IOM chief of mission at Nauru, said conditions on the island were “as good as any other camp I have worked in” but admitted there were problems with water supply.

He said all those returning had asked to come home voluntarily and most said they had addresses in Afghanistan to head for.

The UNHCR expressed fears that some migrants would face hardship in Afghanistan as winter takes hold in a country still ravaged by the effects of 23 years of war.—AFP