128,000 East Timorese refugees face starvation

128,000 East Timorese refugees face starvation

Yemris Fointuna, The Jakarta Post, Kupang

Around 128,000 East Timorese people staying in numerous refugee
camps in East Nusa Tenggara Province are facing starvation as
their food supply is nearly exhausted.

More than 20,000 refugees in Naibonat and Noelbaki
subdistricts in Kupang regency have nearly enough food, but a
major part of more than 100,000 others in Belu regency had run
out of rice because their crops were damaged during the recent
flooding that hit the regency.

Antonio da Costa, 47, originally from Los Palos in East Timor,
said his five-member family only had meals twice a day because of
the food crisis.

"We eat cassava in the morning and a little rice in the
evening. All this is because most refugees were confused about
the government's decision to stop its humanitarian relief as of
Jan. 1, 2002. We finally realize that they are serious now that
we are facing a food crisis," he said over the weekend.

Antonio conceded that his family still had some food
stockpiled from the past harvest but it would probably not last
to the end of the month.

He said he had a plot of land near his camp but all rice and
maize crops were damaged by the recent flood.

Yuliana Soares, 38, another refugee in Belu, Atambua, said she
was not sure that her family would have enough to eat in the
coming weeks, because their food supply was running thin.

"My family usually has three meals a day but soon we will not
have enough to eat.

"This week we have only porridge, instead of rice, twice a
day, to allow us to survive in the coming two weeks. It's
impossible for us to beg from our neighbors who are also facing
the same fate," she said, while adding that her family had cooked
porridge mixed with noodles, instead of meat or fish.

The government has stopped humanitarian relief to the refugees
because it has financial problems amid the prolonged economic
crisis. The decision was also made in an attempt to encourage the
refugees to go back to their homeland, which is now deemed by all
to be safe.

But, so far, the refugees have yet to decide whether they will
go back to their homeland or become Indonesian citizens. They
have been reluctant to make a decision as they erroneously
believe that the political situation in East Timor, slated to
announce its independence on May 20, 2002, is still uncertain.

Some 290,000 East Timorese left the territory, some by force,
some voluntarily, during the post-ballot mayhem by pro-Jakarta
militias in September 1999. More than 100,000 have returned.

Johanis B. Kosapilawan, spokesman for the provincial
administration, insisted that the government would not consider
changing its mind on the refugees.

"The provincial administration will only provide humanitarian
relief in an emergency situation but its portion will be less
than was provided in the past," he said.

Kosapilawan claimed the provincial administration had asked
the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to deal
with the worsening situation in the wake of the government's
decision to halt the humanitarian relief.

"So far, UNHCR has yet to respond to the refugees' (most
recent) situation," he said without making clear what he hoped
the UN body could do since the change of status.

An outbreak of diarrhea and lung and skin diseases has
attacked hundreds of refugees following the recent flood,
claiming at least 15 lives, mostly children.

The recent flooding has also forced hundreds of refugees to
seek dry land in the regency.

Meanwhile, May. Gen. William T. da Costa, chief of the Udayana
Military Command overseeing Bali and East Nusa Tenggara, said on
Monday that East Nusa Tenggara had the potential for conflict
since the refugee problem had been left unresolved.

"We must remain alert because the refugee problem is yet to be
resolved," he said in the celebration of the East Nusa Tenggara
Military District's 41st anniversary.

He admitted that the problems were triggered by the
government's decision to halt the humanitarian relief to the
refugees. He added that, "Most refugees have no skills while the
province has no natural resources to feed them."