Increasingly, refugees return to East Timor<\/p>\n
Yemris Fointuna, The Jakarta Post, Kupang<\/p>\n
Some 10,000 of a total of more than 100,000 East Timorese people
\ntaking refuge in West Timor will return home to Oecusi, East
\nTimor's enclave bordering North Timor Tengah Regency, this week,
\nsays a local military official.<\/p>\n
\"Within this week, around 2,000 East Timorese families will
\ncross the border at Motaain and Metamasin, two small towns in
\nNorth Timor Tengah, and they will be bade farewell in a
\ntraditional ceremony attended by local officials,\" chief of East
\nNusa Tenggara Military District Col. Moeswarno Moesanip said here
\non Thursday.<\/p>\n
He said he had received confirmation about the new exodus
\nafter the refugees registered their repatriation with local
\nauthorities.<\/p>\n
He said that 25 to 35 East Timorese families had returned to
\nEast Timor every day over the last two weeks and greater numbers
\nof refugees were expected to follow suit following Jose Alexandre
\n\"Xanana\" Gusmao's victory in the recent presidential election.<\/p>\n
He added that 30 of a total of 10,000 East Timorese servicemen
\nand civil servants, who had also taken refuge in the province,
\nhad lodged an application to quit their jobs, after they had
\ndecided to return home.<\/p>\n
\"I will forward the applications to the Indonesian Military
\nHeadquarters in Jakarta to seek approval in accordance with the
\nprocedures,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Moesanip said the Indonesian government would halt its
\nfinancial assistance, at the earliest on May 20, 2002, to
\nrefugees wanting to return home.<\/p>\n
\"So far, the government has offered Rp 750,000 in financial
\naid for refugees wanting to return in an effort to help speed up
\nthe repatriation program. However, after East Timor's
\nindependence on May 20, the financial aid will be halted,\" he
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
He added that of Rp 11 billion allocated by the central
\ngovernment, local authorities had spent around Rp 5 billion to
\ncarry out the repatriation program.<\/p>\n
B. Suparanto, representative of the International Organization
\nfor Migration (IOM) in Kupang, said the number of remaining
\nrefugees in the province was around 100,000, as 190,000 others
\nhad returned over the last three years.<\/p>\n
\"The remaining refugees are expected to return in the coming
\nthree months, and IOM and UNHCR will continue to cooperate with
\nthe Indonesian and East Timor authorities to provide facilities
\nfor the repatriation,\" he said.<\/p>\n
The refugees have delayed their return home through fear that
\nthey would be mistreated by the East Timorese who supported the
\nprovince's independence. Some 295,000 pro-Jakarta East Timorese
\nfled the post-ballot violence following their defeat in the UN-
\norganized vote in August, 1999.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, a number of refugees who were still fearful of
\nreturning home, called on Xanana to pay attention to them and
\ntheir future welfare.<\/p>\n
\"We, who are some of the refugees still living in Indonesia
\nhope President-elect Xanana will consider our fate in exile,\"
\nMatheus DC Guides said, as quoted by Antara in Atambua on
\nThursday.<\/p>\n
Matheus, who was employed at the former East Timor governor's
\noffice, said Xanana should coordinate with the Indonesian
\ngovernment to help solve the problem of some 10,000 civil
\nservants and servicemen living in refuge camps in West Timor.<\/p>\n
Francisco Salsinha called on Xanana in his capacity as the
\npresident-elect to pay a visit again to the refuge camps in West
\nTimor to assure refugees that they would be treated humanely
\nshould they return home.<\/p>\n
\"Many refugees are still apprehensive about returning because
\nthey fear being mistreated upon their arrival,\" he said.<\/p>",
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