Kuwait to help build 15 refugee villages

JAKARTA (JP): The Kuwaiti government has pledged to fund the development of 15 villages to accommodate thousands of people who have been displaced from their homes across Indonesia.

Kuwaiti Ambassador to Indonesia Jamal M.A. Al-Nesasi said, after meeting with President Megawati Soekarnoputri, that each village would consist of 50 units that could accommodate 50 families.

"As for the location, we will leave it to the Indonesian government but, of course, the villages should be built in places where there are refugees," Al-Nesasi said.

Each village will have basic facilities such as a school and a medical clinic.

According to the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, 1.3 million people have been displaced, mostly by communal conflicts. They are accommodated in temporary shelters, refugee camps or homes of relatives.

Provinces that are a major source of refugees are those ridden by communal conflicts such as Aceh, Maluku, North Maluku, West Kalimantan, Central Kalimantan, Central Sulawesi and neighboring East Timor.

Al-Nesasi refused to reveal the amount of money to be granted to build the villages.

Oil-rich Kuwait also offered US$50 million in soft loans to, "finance any project that the government could find useful to help its people". The ambassador said that the loan is not attached to loans provided by the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

"It's a government-to-government scheme," he said. (dja)