Increasingly, refugees return to East Timor
Yemris Fointuna, The Jakarta Post, Kupang
Some 10,000 of a total of more than 100,000 East Timorese people taking refuge in West Timor will return home to Oecusi, East Timor's enclave bordering North Timor Tengah Regency, this week, says a local military official.
"Within this week, around 2,000 East Timorese families will cross the border at Motaain and Metamasin, two small towns in North Timor Tengah, and they will be bade farewell in a traditional ceremony attended by local officials," chief of East Nusa Tenggara Military District Col. Moeswarno Moesanip said here on Thursday.
He said he had received confirmation about the new exodus after the refugees registered their repatriation with local authorities.
He said that 25 to 35 East Timorese families had returned to East Timor every day over the last two weeks and greater numbers of refugees were expected to follow suit following Jose Alexandre "Xanana" Gusmao's victory in the recent presidential election.
He added that 30 of a total of 10,000 East Timorese servicemen and civil servants, who had also taken refuge in the province, had lodged an application to quit their jobs, after they had decided to return home.
"I will forward the applications to the Indonesian Military Headquarters in Jakarta to seek approval in accordance with the procedures," he said.
Moesanip said the Indonesian government would halt its financial assistance, at the earliest on May 20, 2002, to refugees wanting to return home.
"So far, the government has offered Rp 750,000 in financial aid for refugees wanting to return in an effort to help speed up the repatriation program. However, after East Timor's independence on May 20, the financial aid will be halted," he said.
He added that of Rp 11 billion allocated by the central government, local authorities had spent around Rp 5 billion to carry out the repatriation program.
B. Suparanto, representative of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) in Kupang, said the number of remaining refugees in the province was around 100,000, as 190,000 others had returned over the last three years.
"The remaining refugees are expected to return in the coming three months, and IOM and UNHCR will continue to cooperate with the Indonesian and East Timor authorities to provide facilities for the repatriation," he said.
The refugees have delayed their return home through fear that they would be mistreated by the East Timorese who supported the province's independence. Some 295,000 pro-Jakarta East Timorese fled the post-ballot violence following their defeat in the UN- organized vote in August, 1999.
Meanwhile, a number of refugees who were still fearful of returning home, called on Xanana to pay attention to them and their future welfare.
"We, who are some of the refugees still living in Indonesia hope President-elect Xanana will consider our fate in exile," Matheus DC Guides said, as quoted by Antara in Atambua on Thursday.
Matheus, who was employed at the former East Timor governor's office, said Xanana should coordinate with the Indonesian government to help solve the problem of some 10,000 civil servants and servicemen living in refuge camps in West Timor.
Francisco Salsinha called on Xanana in his capacity as the president-elect to pay a visit again to the refuge camps in West Timor to assure refugees that they would be treated humanely should they return home.
"Many refugees are still apprehensive about returning because they fear being mistreated upon their arrival," he said.