Auckland - Nauru confirmed yesterday that Australia wants discussions with it to send more asylum seekers to island detention camps which have been described as "hellish".
Tiny Nauru, just south of the Equator in the Central Pacific, has around 800 Middle Eastern asylum seekers held in two camps in the bleak, strip-mined interior of the island. They include people from the Norwegian ship Tampa.
In a statement yesterday, Nauru Chief Secretary, Mr Mathew Batsuia, said the Australian Foreign Minister, Mr Alexander Downer, would visit the island next week. "I would expect the asylum seeker programme to be high on the agenda," he said.
