Office of the Historian

147. Telegram From the Embassy in Singapore to the Department of State1

Singapore, August 5, 1980, 0842Z

8182. RP/OAR for Cushing and Schill. From Office for Refugees in Indonesia and Singapore. Subject: Mercy Ship Cap Anamur: GOS Policy. Ref: State 20209.2

1. Mercy ship Cap Anamur arrived at Singapore August 4 with 294 refugees picked up at sea during the ship’s ninth rescue voyage.

2. GOS has informed UNHCR that no German-guaranteed cases will be permitted ashore at the present time, but any cases the U.S., Canada and Australia should choose to guarantee may disembark and be taken to the Hawkins Road camp. When and if the Hawkins Road camp population declines to below 2,000 (it is currently about 2,500), GOS will resume acceptance of FRG guarantees for Cap Anamur refugees.

3. The West German Embassy in Singapore has informed us that the Philippine Government has agreed to accept refugees from the Cap Anamur,3 but that the ship refuses to go to Manila because of poor bunkering and supply facilities. GOS has agreed to permit the refugees currently aboard the Cap Anamur to be transferred directly from the ship to the airport, thereby allowing the FRG the option to fly them directly from Singapore to either West Germany or the Philippines. The Germans have chosen the latter.

4. GOS policy has been consistent throughout period of refugee arrivals, and we see no change in policy as indicated reftel.

Smith
  1. Source: Carter Library, National Security Affairs, Staff Material, Defense/Security, Molander, Box 80, Refugees (Indochinese), 8–10/80. Confidential. Sent for information to the Mission in Geneva, Bangkok for Songkhla, Kuala Lumpur, Jakarta, Manila, Hong Kong, London, Oslo, Bonn, Copenhagen, USUN, CINCPAC, and SECDEF.↩
  2. Not found.↩
  3. In telegram 200869 to London, July 29, the Department repeated the text of telegram 3994 from Singapore, July 24, which noted that while the West German Indochinese resettlement quota had been raised, the Cap Anamur refugees would fill the remaining slots. Reunifications would be restricted to family members already in the Federal Republic of Germany. (National Archives, RG 59, Central Foreign Policy File, D800363–1128)↩