The president of the Pacific island of Nauru has held talks by telephone with the Australian Government to clarify the issue of 1,000 Australian-bound asylum seekers Nauru has been holding on Canberra's behalf.

President Rene Harris said the asylum seekers - mostly Afghans and Iraqis - were still in his country, despite a promise that they would be gone by the end of May.

He also said Nauru had not received the full $17m of aid Australia had agreed to supply.

The Australian Foreign Minister, Alexander Downer, said he believed Australia had met its financial commitments, and that additional asylum requests had caused processing delays.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service