More than 400 Cubans are in detention at the Refugee Center in Nassau as a rising wave of rafters has descended on the Bahamas in recent weeks.

``We have not yet made a decision to return them to Cuba in the near future,'' said Carlton Wright, an official of the Bahamian Foreign Ministry. ``Certainly, we have repatriation agreements with Cuba and Haiti, but we have not made any decisions on that account.''

In Miami, the group Brothers to the Rescue said Wednesday that two of its members flew to Nassau with medicine and food for the refugees, who numbered 467.

``We understand there has been an outbreak of diarrhea among the children and that food is scarce,'' said Silvia Pascual, a Brothers volunteer.

In a related development, several U.S. Coast Guard cutters returned nine Cubans to their homeland Tuesday and transferred nine others to the U.S. Naval Base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, the Coast Guard said.

The United States has returned 37 Cubans so far this month and 226 this year.