Over 25,000 E. Timor refugees register for repatriation
Yemris Fointuna, The Jakarta Post, Kupang
Since the presidential election in East Timor on April 14, 2002, 25,453 refugees or 7,600 East Timorese refugee families in West Timor have registered for repatriation and are expected to return home by the end of the month.
Stanis Tefa, chief of social affairs at the secretariat of the provincial administration, said more and more refugees have registered for the planned repatriation with local authorities in Belu and Kupang, which is expected to peak on May 20, when UNAMET transfers full authority to the East Timor government under president-elect Alessandro Xanana Gusmao.
"Between 30 and 50 refugee families are registering with the repatriation committee every day. The remaining refugees, who remain indecisive about the situation in East Timor, will follow suit after learning the good news from other refugees who have already arrived home," he said.
The local administration has offered Rp 750,000 for each family that decides to return to East Timor.
Tefa said there were still around 100,000 refugees in the province. "If this group of 25,453 refugees return home, most of the other 74,500 are expected to follow suit."
He said most refugees have expressed a willingness to witness East Timor's independence and the planned swearing-in of Xanana as their maiden president.
"The difficult situation and uncertainty in their own camps will also help encourage them to return home," he said.
Separately, Johanis J. Kosapilawan, spokesman for the provincial administration, said that, according to data he gained from the refugee task force, the number of refugees who have yet to register themselves for repatriation was only 55,000 and a majority of them were in Atambua and none of them have decided to stay in Indonesia.
"We will continue to enhance cooperation with UNTAET, UNHCR and the International Organization for Migration (IOM) to persuade the refugees to register themselves for the repatriation program so that the refugee problem will no longer burden the Indonesian government," he said.
He added that those who refused to return home and wanted to stay in Indonesia would be asked to join a resettlement program that would relocate them outside the province.
So far, 104 East Timorese families have been resettled in Lampung.