DHAKA: The Indonesian government will not turn away Rohingya migrants from Myanmar and Bangladesh who are being housed in a sports complex in Lhoksukon town in North Aceh regency, said official of the country’s foreign ministry, reports the Straits Times.

So far, 582 migrants, including many ethnic Muslim Rohingyas, have been given refuge in the overcrowded sports centre since local police found them stranded in boats in the waters off the regency over the weekend.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Arrmanatha Nasir Thursday said Indonesia did not sign a 1951 convention on refugees, but it will not turn them away.

"What Indonesia has done is given shelter and food to illegal migrants," he said. "What we do not do is force them back onto their boats and expel them from the country."

BDST: 1253 HRS, MAY 15, 2015
RS