UNHCR expects 25,000 more E. Timorese to return home<\/p>\n
Yemris Fointuna, The Jakarta Post, Kupang, East Nusa Tenggara<\/p>\n
The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) expects to see half
\nof the remaining 50,000 East Timorese refugees currently taking
\nshelter in neighboring East Nusa Tenggara to enter the
\nrepatriation program.<\/p>\n
A UNHCR representative in Indonesia, Bob White, said on
\nWednesday that to promote the program, the world body had planned
\na regular visit of East Timor people to the refugee camps
\nscattered across the Indonesian province and vice versa.<\/p>\n
\"We hope that through the exchange visits at least half of the
\nremaining refugees will return home by the end of the year,\"
\nWhite said after a meeting with Governor Piet A. Tallo.<\/p>\n
UNHCR will stop its humanitarian mission in West Timor at the
\nend of this year.<\/p>\n
Provincial administration data has revealed that some 20,000
\nEast Timorese were repatriated between September 2001 and June
\n2002.<\/p>\n
White is visiting East Nusa Tenggara to talk with the
\nprovincial administration about priority measures to deal with
\nthe refugees, who have been taking shelter in the province for
\nalmost three years.<\/p>\n
\"Technically, repatriation remains the most important of our
\npriority measures, although the possibility is wide open for the
\nIndonesian government to resettle the refugees,\" White said.<\/p>\n
Indonesia has set an Aug. 31 deadline for the East Timorese to
\nchoose between repatriation and resettlement.<\/p>\n
The Office of the Coordinating Minister for People's Welfare
\nand the Udayana Military Command have planned to build 800 houses
\nacross East Nusa Tenggara for East Timor refugees who wish to
\nremain in the country.<\/p>\n
Outgoing Udayana Military commander Maj. Gen. Willem T. da
\nCosta said on Tuesday that the houses would mostly go to families
\nof former East Timorese servicemen and civil servants.<\/p>\n
\"The construction project is aimed at accelerating the refugee
\nsettlement program, which has continued unabated for almost three
\nyears,\" said Willem, who will move to Bandung as the head of the
\nArmy's staff and command school.<\/p>\n
The houses will be built in Kupang, Belu, North Central Timor
\nand South Central Timor regencies.<\/p>\n
Willem said 62 East Timorese who had joined the Army had
\nexpressed their intention to leave Indonesia for their homeland.<\/p>\n
Responding to reports of some 1,500 unreturned East Timorese
\nchildren, White said UNHCR was still working with both the
\nIndonesian and East Timor governments and nongovernmental
\norganizations to reunite them with their parents.<\/p>\n
He said the world body had found it difficult to detect the
\nwhereabouts of the children as they were scattered in various
\nplaces.<\/p>\n
UNHCR has learned that the children have been placed in
\norphanages across the country since 1999, when violence engulfed
\nthe former Portuguese colony following the UN-administered
\nindependence vote.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/unhcr-expects-25000-more-e-timorese-to-return-home-1447893297",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
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