Refugees get houses from Japan

KUPANG, East Nusa Tenggara: The government of Japan will provide 4,000 units of houses for the East Timorese refugees who are now in the regencies of Belu, Atambua, about 280 km from the capital of the East Nusa Tenggara province.

The grant will be provided for the native East Timorese people who left their hometown because of terrorism and intimidation by parties for and against independence, since the option was offered by Jakarta in January, Antara reported.

Boesya Badjoeri, the head of the provincial office of the Ministry of Transmigration, said the grant was the first of its kind to be provided here. It will be distributed in the 1999 - 2000 fiscal year, he said without elaborating the exact amount of funds for the housing construction.