Over 230,000 East Timorese flee to East Nusa Tenggara

By Jupriadi

ATAMBUA, East Nusa Tenggara (JP): Almost one third of East Timor's population of 800,000 have sought refuge in neighboring East Nusa Tenggara following the Aug. 30 ballot.

As of Monday, the province's refugee coordination center registered 232,672 people from 45,513 families, who fled their violence-devastated homeland after the government's autonomy offer was rejected in the landmark vote held under the supervision of the United Nations.

They are scattered in eight regencies across the province, with more than 100,000 of them sheltered in Belu which borders East Timor. Belu's capital, Atambua, which in normal times has a population of just 12,000 people, hosts some 50,000 refugees, reminding residents of the exodus of East Timorese prior to Indonesia's arrival in the former Portuguese colony in 1975.

East Timor Military Commander Col. Muhammad Noer Muis predicted a few days before the exodus became a flood that some 250,000 people would cross over from the territory to the neighboring province following the announcement of the ballot result on Sept. 4.

With the exodus continuing on Monday, food and health problems became more complicated despite the concerted humanitarian aid mission there.

Complaints lodged by refugees over food assistance took a toll in Wini, a small town in the North Central Timor regency which abuts East Timor's western tip of Liquica, where hundreds of people ran amok to protest against poor food and facilities provided by the local government.

The angry refugees toppled tents and attacked anything they found, but no people were injured in the incident, which a health official indicated was a result of their long and heavy psychological burden.

"I understand what they feel, but they cannot just put the blame on the local government. We lack trucks to transport food and other humanitarian aid from Kupang," head of the regency health office, Valens Pareira, said.

Wini is situated some 280 kilometers east of provincial capital Kupang.

One of the refugees, Alberto, said the violence arose out of worries that food supply would run out in three days, while the government's aid package had yet to arrive.

He also complained about the lack of water, tents and toilets.

"To make matters worse", Alberto said, "the refugees have been living with armed militia members, who spend their leisure time firing guns."

The same aid delivery problem was found also in Atambua, with some refugees claiming to have been fooled by local officials.

"Weekly supply of rice and side dishes has been stopped in the past few weeks since we arrived here early this month," a refugee said.

Many refugees flocked to a subdistrict office in Atambua for food on Monday, but found there was nothing to eat.

Militia

Meanwhile, a military source told The Jakarta Post that a battalion of trained East Timorese prointegration militia members had been established in East Nusa Tenggara's border with East Timor.

"They are equipped with heavy arms, including antitank rockets and surface-to-air and surface-to-surface missiles, to stave off the Australia-led multinational troops," said the middle-ranked officer who requested anonymity.

He said some militiamen had mingled with people in East Timor's capital Dili, and were ready to take to the hills and forests for a guerrilla resistance movement if the multinational force began to hunt down the pro-Jakarta militia groups now hiding in East Timor's remote areas.

"In general, they have enough experience in the battlefield, particularly because they were once under the tutelage of the Army Special Forces (Kopassus)," he said.

He estimated that 10,000 members of various proautonomy militia factions grouped in the National Struggle Front (FPB) were now in East Nusa Tenggara.

Spokesman for the Ministry of Defense and Security/Indonesian Military (TNI) Maj. Gen. Sudrajat quoted a militia leader as saying that around 50,000 pro-Jakarta militiamen had joined the exodus.

Minister of Defense and Security/TNI Commander Gen. Wiranto told the House of Representatives last week East Nusa Tenggara was not intended to serve as a base for armed resistance against an independent East Timor.