29 more East Timor refugees return home

29 more East Timor refugees return home

Yemris Fointuna and Jupriadi, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Twenty-nine more refugees, including one marine, have returned to
their hometowns in East Timor after spending more than two years
in refugee camps in South Sulawesi province.

The 29 refugees, who were part of a total of 3,000 East
Timorese refugees staying in the province, embarked from
Soekarno-Hatta Port on a direct journey to the newly established
Democratic Republic of East Timor onboard the Sirimau passenger
ship on Monday night.

"I have considered all the consequences and I won't mind being
a civilian in East Timor," Second Sgt. Armando GSS, who served in
the Indonesian Navy for 13 years, said.

The marine said he had decided to return to East Timor because
it was his home, but not because of the promises the government
of the new country made to refugees.

Another refugee, Jos Amaral, said he missed his homeland and
hoped East Timor would provide a new life for him.

"We expect a better life (in East Timor) than the one we had
here (in Makassar)," he said.

After the UN-sponsored referendum in August 1999, in which
majority of the East Timorese voted for independence from
Indonesia, military-backed militias destroyed the half island and
around 250,000 East Timorese took refuge outside of the region.

Some 3,000 of them left for South Sulawesi and stayed there
until the former Indonesian province was declared an independent
state last month.

However, the number of those returning to East Timor is
relatively small, with only 62 refugees, including the latest 29,
choosing to return there.

East Timor President Xanana Gusmao visited Makassar last month
and asked the refugees to return home, promising that no harm
would come to them.

Separately in the East Nusa Tenggara capital of Kupang, some
2,300 houses will be built for East Timorese refugees who choose
to stay as Indonesian citizens, an official said over the
weekend.

Visiting director general of housing at the Ministry of
Resettlement and Regional Infrastructure, Aca Sugandhy, said on
Saturday that the construction of the houses would be partly
funded by the Japanese government.

"Some 200 homes will be built in Kupang, 1,500 others in East
Sumba regency and another 600 in Belu regency," Aca said, adding
that the government would build more houses by August when there
was a definite figure on the number of families opting to stay in
Indonesia.

Currently, some 54,000 East Timorese refugees are taking
shelter in Kupang and West Timor.

Meanwhile, militia leader Joao da Silva Tavares visited the
East Timor border town of Batugade under tight security on
Tuesday for more talks about the possible return of thousands of
his followers, the Agence France-Presse reported.

United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) local
spokesman Jake Morland said the main topic of the meeting was
Tavares' proposal that all returnees come back as one group and
live together in a transit camp for a period to avert any
reprisals.