Maluku refugees to get aid

AMBON, Maluku: Acting Maluku Governor Sinyo Sarundajang has ordered the distribution of construction materials to allow victims of the ethnic conflict there to rebuild their homes.

Syarif Hadler, deputy mayor of Ambon municipality, said in the Maluku capital on Wednesday the order followed a report that some former refugees were anxious lest they be denied their Rp 10 million in construction material because of a lack of land ownership documents.

Two former warring communities in Nania village, Baguala district, Ambon municipality, for instance, have reconciled and wish to live peacefully, but most of the community members do not have ownership certificates for the land where they want to build houses.

"The deputy governor has ordered the social affairs office in Ambon to announce this policy to avoid any unrest among refugees who are going back to their home villages," he said

Quoting Sarundajang, Hadler said that despite a lack of land certificates, the refugees would be given the opportunity to find plots of land, and the local administration would arrange their settlement in an effort to resolve the refuge problem by the end of this year. --Antara