Govt needs Willem's help for refugee repatriation<\/p>\n
Yemris Fointuna, The Jakarta Post, Kupang<\/p>\n
Coordinating Minister for People's Welfare Yusuf Kalla has
\nofficially requested the Indonesian Military (TNI) leadership to
\nallow Maj. Gen. Willem T. da Costa, chief of Udayana Military
\nCommand to participate in the government's endeavor to repatriate
\nEast Timorese refugees.<\/p>\n
Kalla made the request in an official letter he delivered to
\nIndonesian Military Commander Admiral Widodo A.S. on Nov. 6,
\n2001.<\/p>\n
He explained in the letter that he had lodged the request
\nafter witnessing the repatriation of 138 East Timorese families
\nat Willem's good initiative.<\/p>\n
According to The Jakarta Post's monitoring, conflicts among
\nEast Timorese refugees have been reduced significantly following
\nWillem's appointment as the military command's chief (to replace
\nhis predecessor Lt. Gen. Kiki Syahnakri, now deputy chief of the
\nArmy) in January 2000.<\/p>\n
Willem has so far held several talks between conflicting
\nrefugees in their barracks in which he has encouraged refugees to
\nreturn to their homeland. Of 143 East Timorese refugees
\nregistered last June, 8,000, including 1,200 former members of
\nthe pro-Jakarta East Timor militias, have gone back to their home
\nvillages in East Timor.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, some 50 tribal chiefs of the Ermera district in
\nEast Timor, who are also refugees and 125 coordinators of refugee
\nbarracks held a preliminary meeting in Atambua on Friday to
\nprepare a reconciliatory meeting scheduled for Nov. 17, 2001 in a
\nfree zone between the settlements of Batu Gade in East Timor and
\nMota Ain in East Nusa Tenggara.<\/p>\n
Claudio de Jesus Lay, a tribal chief from Ermera who is also a
\nrefugee in Belu, said the meeting of the two sides was important
\nto make preliminary preparations for the planned reconciliation
\namong refugees and for the government-sponsored repatriation
\nprogram.<\/p>\n
\"We are all meeting here to reach agreement on the planned
\nreconciliation and repatriation of refugees,\" Antara news agency
\nquoted him as saying.<\/p>\n
The agreement on reconciliation was reached in the meeting
\nbetween figures of East Timor's Ermera district and refugees in
\nBelu on Oct. 24.<\/p>\n
A majority of 16,000 Ermera refugees in the province are
\nformer members of the former prointegration force (PPI), which
\nwas widely known to be repressive and hardline before the 1999
\npoll in East Timor.<\/p>\n
Claudio said the reconciliatory meeting would be a golden
\nopportunity to encourage Ermera refugees to go home.<\/p>\n
\"Most of us will likely return home should Ermera's figures be
\nready to accept us as their brothers,\" he said.<\/p>\n
He said he understood the demands made by people from Ermera
\nfor the trial of ex-fighters who were involved in mass killings
\nin the district following the East Timor ballot.<\/p>\n
\"But, most participants of the meeting want the people of
\nErmera and refugees to put all the bloody incidents behind them
\nto enable reconciliation to take place in East Timor,\" he said.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/govt-needs-willems-help-for-refugee-repatriation-1447893297",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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