Indonesian ambassador to return to Australia to solve problem with asylum seekers

Indonesian ambassador to return to Australia to solve problem with asylum seekers

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono also will meet Australian Prime Minister John Howard on June 26 to discuss Canberra's decision in March to give temporary visas to 42 asylum seekers from the Indonesian province of Papua, Desra Percaya said.

Many in Jakarta saw the move as tacit acknowledgment of Indonesian human rights abuses in the oil-and-gas rich province, home to a long-running separatist rebellion, and the government responded by downgrading diplomatic relations, the AP reports.

Percaya said Indonesia's Ambassador Hamzah Thayeb was returning to Canberra so he "could prepare Howard's visit to Batam Island," where the two leaders also will discuss unrest in Indonesia's former province, East Timor.