Famine report in Arso denied

JAYAPURA, Irian Jaya: A local transmigration official denies a report of famine affecting the Arso resettlement area after the two-year food supply expired.

Head of the provincial office of Ministry of Transmigration Sudarmadi said here yesterday his office would therefore not extend more supplies, as some resettlers have demanded.

Thirty-five people, representing 100 families who have resettled in Arso, lodged a complaint with the local office of the Indonesian Legal Aid Foundation concerning the transmigration office's failure to keep their promise of giving each resettler family a 2-hectare plot of land, Antara reported

The farmers also said that they were suffering from food shortages because the surrounding land has yet to yield crops. (swe)