Refugees detain governor, councillors

MEDAN, North Sumatra: Hundreds of angry refugees from war-torn Aceh prevented North Sumatra Governor T. Rizal Nurdin and all provincial councillors from leaving the legislative building for six hours on Thursday, as their demand for immediate disbursement of resettlement funds remained unheeded.

The protesters began picketing the building where the 85 councillors were holding a plenary session to hear the accountability speech of the governor at 2 p.m.

They let Rizal leave the building at 8 p.m. after he had made a promise to disburse the funds soon, pending verification of the number of refugees who had not received the money.

The refugees have been camping at the compounds of the gubernatorial office and legislature for the past three weeks to make them comply with their demand. They are part of 4,600 refugee families who have not yet received the funds.

The Ministry of Social Affairs allocated Rp 105 billion for 12,000 refugee families, but the distribution of the funds was suspended following an alleged scam.

Rizal told the refugees to depart from the gubernatorial office compound by Friday at the latest. -- JP