Maluku refugees return as govt cuts assistance

Aziz Tunny, The Jakarta Post, Ambon, Maluku

Over 100,000 refugees who fled sectarian clashes in Maluku since 1999 have returned to their homes or been resettled elsewhere, following the government's mid January deadline to cut aid for refugees nationwide.

The returning group represented roughly one third of some 332,000 refugees who escaped the three years of fighting between Muslims and Christians communities there.

"There are another 40,018 families or 212,595 people at our refugees camps," said Rahman Soumena, head of the command center for the return of Maluku refugees, on Monday.

He said the 100,000 who had already left were returned over a one-month period since Dec. 20 last year.

Rahman said the refugees were ready to be returned after their home villages as well as neighboring ones had been prepared to accept them.

"Some of them did not return but were relocated to new homes which can provide them safety," he explained.

More than 6,000 people in Maluku have died since Muslims and Christians clashed early 1999. The number of victims were roughly even on both sides.

Refugees have since taken shelter in and around the province's capital of Ambon and on the Seram Island in Central Maluku.

Sporadic violence continues but has abated significantly after the warring sides signed a peace agreement early last year.

Now the government is cutting the supply of aid reasoning it no longer had the funds to support their lives.

It has given a Jan. 15 deadline for refugee nationwide to return to their homes after which the government would stop channeling aid.

Armed conflicts and natural disasters in a number of regions in Indonesia have put the number of refugees or called internally displaced persons (IDPs) to about 1.24 million.

Indonesia ranks number five among countries with the highest number of IDPs after Angola, Sudan, Congo and Colombia.

Rahman said the security situation in Maluku was not yet ripe to bring all the refugees back home.

Head of the Maluku social affairs office, Isac Umarella agreed, saying the province needed more time.

Not only should refugees feel ready to return, he said, their neighboring villages must also be prepared to accept them. "We're afraid that their return could spark new conflicts."

He said the local government was building new houses to replace those that have been destroyed.

Around 29,000 houses had been destroyed or burnt down in the three years of violence, Isac added.

"But we can't build the houses in accordance with the number of families because we have been rebuilding the destroyed houses, which were occupied by more than one family."

"The new houses meanwhile are too small to accommodate more than one family. So if we grant one family one house other families have nowhere to go since we can't build more of the houses," he explained.

Meanwhile, a man was shot dead and another injured Tuesday by an unidentified gunman in the latest act of violence befalling the village of Tulehu in the Salahutu district, some 24 kilometers from Ambon.

La Mulyadi (25) died of a shot wound to his chest, while Idris La Tale (28) sustained a gun wound to his buttocks. Villagers said the two men along with Ahmad Usemahu (38) were felling tree when an unidentified man opened fire at them.

Salahutu district police chief Second Insp. Suwakul S. Ag. confirmed the shooting took place.

"There was just one shot heard and yet we have two victims. So we think that the bullet cut through Mulyadi then hit Idris," Suwakul said.

Early police investigation estimated the perpetuator acted alone, he said, but no motive could be established so far.