Yugoslavia expels diplomats

Press, 9 December 1988, Page 8

Yugoslavia expels diplomats

NZPA-Reuter Belgrade Three Australian diplomats ordered out of Yugoslavia will fly home on Sunday, feeling personal disappointment and leaving a load of work behind. Ahmet Ali, first secretary of the Australian Embassy in Belgrade and principal migration officer, told Reuters the expulsion will mean delays in future for Yugoslav visa-seekers. “There will inevitably be a number of delays

which will be generated because we will now have only one person committed to visa and migration processing,” he said. Ali, with another first secretary, Russell Ellis, and second secretary, Gregory Willis, were ordered to leave on Monday in retaliation for the closing of the Yugoslav consulate in Sydney and expulsion of its staff. The row erupted after Yugoslavia refused to hand over a security

guard who shot and wounded a Croatian emigre during a demonstration in front of the Sydney consulate on November 27. Mr Ali, whose Turkish Cypriot family moved to Australia in the 19505, said he did not know why Yugoslavia chose him and the other two diplomats to be expelled. “I feel that I have had a lot of warmth for Yugoslavia and the Yugoslav people and I am greatly

disappointed to be leaving under circumstances like this,” he said. He said Belgrade had the second largest Australian visa office in Europe, after London. Last year 3600 migrant visas and 7500 visitor visas were issued. There are about 300,000 Yugoslavs living in Australia and 14,000 migrant and visitor visas were expected to be processed in the coming year, Mr Ali said.