Most East Timor refugees wish to return

Most East Timor refugees wish to return

JAKARTA (JP): More than 58 percent of some 250,000 East Timor
refugees sheltered in East Nusa Tenggara want to return to their
homeland, the government and the United Nations' High Commission
on Refugees (UNHCR) says.

Coordinating Minister of People's Welfare and Poverty
Eradication Haryono Suyono said after a meeting with UNHCR senior
humanitarian advisor Staffan Bedemar on Monday that the number
reversed the government's previous assessment.

Haryono said the government had estimated that 90 percent of
the refugees in Atambua and Kupang preferred to be resettled in
other parts of Indonesia, especially in the province of East Nusa
Tenggara.

"The government will fully cooperate with international
agencies, including the UNHCR, the International Committee of the
Red Cross (ICRC) and the international community in sending back
the refugees," he said.

He said the government would make the return of refugees in
Atambua and Kupang a top priority, and after that they would
focus on those in Ujung Pandang, Surabaya, Denpasar and Jakarta.

Last week an Air Force Hercules airplane transported 114 of
those displaced from Kupang to Dili. "On Friday at least 400 more
people are expected to leave their refugee camps and return to
East Timor," Haryono said.

The UNHRC said on Monday it would begin the return of tens of
thousands of refugees to their homeland. It believes about 60
percent of the refugees want to return to East Timor.

Meanwhile, In Tokyo, Foreign Minister Masahiko Komura
announced on Monday that Japan would provide US$100 million,
roughly half the total estimated cost, to support the
multinational forces deployed in shattered East Timor.

"We believe the $100 million will be enough to allow
developing nations to participate in the multinational forces,"
Komura said, as quoted by Reuters.

Under domestic law Japan is unable to send troops to
participate in peace-keeping operations in areas where there is
no cease-fire in effect.

Meanwhile, in Ujung Pandang, Minister of Health Farid Anfasa
Moeloek strongly denied on Monday reports that East Timor
refugees in neighboring East Nusa Tenggara were running out of
medicines.

"That's not true. When I inspected the spot with members of
the House of Representatives (DPR) ... there were enough
medicines. Even the (drugs) supply from the ministry is enough
for six to seven months," Farid said after speaking at a
nutrition seminar at Hasanuddin University in Jakarta.

When probed why doctors in the two main hospitals of Atambua
and Kefamenanu in East Nusa Tenggara complained about medicine
and aid shortages, Farid simply retorted, "Probably because there
is no transportation to transfer the medicines."

Farid said that the refugee's problems were not entirely the
responsibility of his ministry.

"We all have to work together in handling this matter, from
providing clean water, sanitation, food, resettlement and
transmigration. The health ministry cannot do this alone," Farid
explained.

He also said that the fund for support had been transferred to
the office of East Nusa Tenggara Health Ministry.

"I'll re-check the data," he said, without elaborating the on
the exact figures.

According to reports, the Timor Tengah Utara regency in the
province only receive about Rp 4 billion from the total Rp 6.5
billion health fund allocated.

Separately, the commander of the International Forces in East
Timor (Interfet) Maj. Gen. Peter Cosgrove said in Dili on Monday
that he had asked the Indonesian Military (TNI) last week, to
return four of its soldiers to the territory to assist the probe
into the killing of Dutch Journalist Sander Thoenes on Sept. 21,
in Dili.

Cosgrove refused to identify the soldiers and the allegation
against 0them.

"They are wanted to assist in the line of inquiry," he said,
as quoted by AFP.

The two-star general also disclosed that villages throughout
the western district of East Timor have been systematically
destroyed. He said he was concerned about the disappearance of
civilian population.

"There has plainly been a concerted effort to burn and deny
(shelter) in that area," the news agency quoted him as saying.
(33/27/edt/prb)