MOST asylum seekers being held on Manus Island will be sent to their home countries within weeks, Papua New Guinea Prime Minister Peter O’Neill says.
Mr O’Neill on Tuesday said six asylum seekers previously housed in the Manus Island detention centre have been moved to an Australian-built transit centre outside the Manus capital, Lorengau, before resettlement in PNG.
But he said most of the detainees are not genuine political refugees.
“I think many of them are just out there trying to have economic opportunities that Australia and other countries offer to them,” Mr O’Neill told the ABC.
He said only a very small number of detainees would be determined to be legitimate refugees.
“Most of the other people who are in the processing centre we’re now talking to their governments and we will start repatriating many of them in a very short time,” he said.
