Illegal immigrants who invaded the United Nations refugee agency in Kuala Lumpur this morning will be allowed to remain within the compound tonight, said a UN official.

The 28 illegal immigrants from Burma's Rohingya Muslim community entered the agency's compound at dawn and camped out in it.

Yoshiteru Tsuji, an official with the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) said the agency has yet to decide on its next move.

The police have been sent to stand guard outside the UNHCR building.

"Everything is under control at the moment," said Tsuji who is the agency's associate protection officer for refugees.

Tsuji said he had informed the immigrants, who include women and children, that their action was illegal.

The immigrants then pleaded for assistance as they had nowhere to go to and feared deportation to Burma.

Tsuji told malaysiakini that while some have yet to apply for asylum through the official channels, most had previously been rejected by the refugee agency.

"Some of them had already been rejected twice by the UNHCR," he said.

Each individual is given two opportunities to present their case for third country asylum. The applicant is then interviewed as part of the application process provided for under the 1951 Refugees' Convention.

Drastic move

Meanwhile, a member of a Burmese pro-democracy group based in Malaysia said the immigrants had been instigated to invade the UNHCR grounds.

Ghiyathudeen, an activist with the Burma Solidarity Group of Malaysia (BSGM), said that the 28 who entered the UNHCR centre had been urged by others to take extreme measures to force authorities into granting them third country refuge.

He said that a resettled immigrant who was visiting Malaysia had been approached by those still in the country for advice on how to get their cases approved.

"I was told last night that they were considering a drastic move," said Ghiyathudeen when asked if he was aware of the immigrants' intentions.

"I advised them not to do so as the Malaysian government may lose patience with those seeking refuge as it (the government) is now having problems with other illegal immigrants," he said.

Ghiyathudeen added that the move would also complicate UNHCR's position.

However, he explained that the 28 immigrants were pressured into making the rash move as they were worried by the government's renewed pledge to reduce the number of illegal immigrants in Malaysia.

Some 2,000 to 3,000 Rohingya Muslims fled Burma in 1991-1992 alleging religious persecution by the Burmese army. Most are staying illegally in Malaysia while they await asylum in another country.