Increasingly, refugees return to East Timor

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.