Maluku refugees living in Kupang face starvation

Maluku refugees living in Kupang face starvation

Yemris Fointuna, The Jakarta Post, Kupang

Around 3,000 Maluku refugees in the East Nusa Tenggara
provincial capital of Kupang are facing starvation following the
ending of food aid from a local Protestant church.

The refugees, who had fled the prolonged sectarian conflict in
Maluku, said that the local people could no longer be relied on
for rice and other basic commodities due to the worsening
conditions in the province resulting from the prolonged economic
crisis.

"We are facing starvation because the local church's charity
foundation has terminated its food aid for refugees while we can
no longer depend on local people from whom we have begged rice
over the last four months," Apoli Watimena, a Maluku refugee,
said here on Monday.

According to The Jakarta Post's observations, Maluku refugees
living in the sports stadium and boarding houses at the Artha
Wacana University, and in Nunhila subdistrict in the city have
been in poor condition since the food aid stopped.

The Rev. P.J. Therik, who coordinated the food aid for the
refugees, confirmed that the local church stopped its food aid
for the refugees four months ago as it had run out of funding
sources.

"Many sides who gave donations for the refugees have halted
their donations because of the worsening economic conditions,
while we never received any donations from the local
administration," he said.

J.B. Kosapilawan, spokesman for the provincial administration,
said that the local government had no funds to help support the
refugees.

"It is better for the refugees to go back to their home
villages in Ambon since the situation is returning into normal,
or to other provinces, or join the government's resettlement
program to start a new life," he said, citing that the government
was still focused on handling the East Timorese refugee problem.

Hundreds of thousands of migrant people in Maluku and North
Maluku have been taking a refuge in Irian Jaya, Sulawesi, Jakarta
and the province following the prolonged sectarian conflict in
the two provinces. The death toll has reached more than 5,000
since the conflict exploded in January, 1999.

Despite the tense calm in the two provinces, no permanent
peaceful solution has been made to end to the bloody conflict.

"It is better for the refugees to go back to their home
villages in Ambon as the situation is returning to normal, or to
other provinces, or to join the government's resettlement program
to start a new life," he said, adding that the government was
still focused on handling the East Timor refugee problem.

Hundreds of thousands of migrant people in Maluku and North
Maluku have taken refuge in Irian Jaya, Sulawesi, Jakarta and the
province following the prolonged sectarian conflict in the two
provinces. The death toll has reached more than 5,000 since the
conflict exploded in Jan. 1999.

Despite the uneasy calm in the two provinces, no permanent,
peaceful solution has been made to end the bloody conflict.