RI sets time frame for refugee camp closure<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Minister of Foreign Affairs Alwi Shihab said on
\nMonday that East Timorese refugee camps in West Timor would be
\nclosed within three to six months.<\/p>\n
However, he called on the international community to help
\nresettle the some 100,000 people who have been living in the
\ncamps since last year.<\/p>\n
\"The Indonesian government has decided to set up a task force
\nconsisting of officials from a number of ministries and
\nrepresentatives of the Indonesian Military (TNI) and police to
\ncarry out 'a comprehensive plan of action' that will resolve the
\nrefugee problem once and for all,\" Alwi said after a closed-door
\nmeeting discussing the issue at the foreign ministry.<\/p>\n
\"The timetable is around three to six months, but this depends
\nvery much on many aspects,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Present at the meeting were Minister of Defense Juwono
\nSudarsono, Minister of Settlement and Territorial Development
\nErna Witoelar, chief of Udayana Military Command overseeing Bali,
\nEast and West Nusa Tenggara and West Timor Maj. Gen. Kiki
\nSyahnakri and former foreign minister Ali Alatas.<\/p>\n
Alwi said the success of the program \"depended on many
\naspects, including the readiness of both UNTAET ... to provide
\nsecurity and provisions needed for the return of the refugees and
\nthe refugees themselves\".<\/p>\n
The UN Transitional Administration in East Timor (UNTAET) is
\ncharged with supervising East Timor's transition to full
\nindependence after the territory's vote for independence from
\nIndonesia last year.<\/p>\n
Alwi appealed to the international community and donor
\ncountries to provide financial assistance for the program.<\/p>\n
\"There are obstacles to assistance given to Indonesia. Maybe
\nbecause of the perception of the international community that
\nIndonesia is responsible for the slow and sluggish return of
\nthose who want to return to East Timor,\" he said.<\/p>\n
\"Actually that is not the case.\"<\/p>\n
He said Indonesia was determined to get the militias, who have
\nbeen blamed for intimidating and obstructing the refugee
\nrepatriation program, out of the camps.<\/p>\n
\"This is part of the problem. The international community has
\naccused the TNI of being to blame for this kind of intimidation
\nbut there are actually other factors,\" he said.<\/p>\n
A gang of militiamen has been accused of killing a New Zealand
\nmember of the UN peacekeeping force in East Timor, Pvt. Leonard
\nWilliam Manning, in the rugged town of Fato Mean, just two
\nkilometers away from the Indonesian border in East Nusa Tenggara,
\non July 24, 2000.<\/p>\n
Alwi said the other factors included political differences
\nbetween prointegration and proindependence East Timorese and
\nbitterness over the result of last year's ballot in which East
\nTimorese voted overwhelmingly to break away from Indonesia.<\/p>\n
Some 170,000 East Timorese have returned home since they fled
\nlast year's violence. (byg)<\/p>",
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