Refugees starving, find food in forest

Yemris Fointuna, The Jakarta Post, Kupang

Many East Timorese refugees currently stuck in East Nusa Tenggara province are searching for food in the nearby forest in an effort to survive after the government stopped supplying them with food.

The starving refugees, living at the Noelbaki, Tuapukan and Naibonat camps in Kupang regency, have become desperate.

"Some of them have run out of food. Every day they are forced to consume leaves, fruit and all kinds of tubers from the jungle to survive," coordinator of the Noelbaki camp Jose Gutteres said on Monday.

He was speaking to The Jakarta Post when he visited the provincial governor's office to ask for food assistance from the local administration. Jose was accompanied for the visit by coordinators of the other two camps and by representatives of the refugees.

Around 20,000 refugees are housed at Noelbaki, Tuapukan and Naibonat in Kupang, while at least 108,000 others are accommodated in other regencies, including Belu, South Central and North Central Timor.

Jose urged the Indonesian government and international organizations to take emergency measures to save the 128,000 refugees from starvation.

The scarcity of food has spread to other camps across the province, he said. "It's not only refugees in Kupang who are starving, but our brothers in Belu and North and South Central Timor are also suffering a similar fate."

Children and elderly people were the worst affected in the refugee camps, with many of them starting to become sick through their reduced resistance.

Coordinator of the Tuapukan camp Gustaf L. Lapenangga said the refugees' state of health had continued to deteriorate, as many of them were suffering from disease, such as malaria, diarrhea and respiratory problems.

"We no longer have any self-respect. We are hungry and even sleep in wet places. It's as though we are animals," he complained.

At least 15 refugees have died from malaria, diarrhea and other diseases in recent months, according to activists from nongovernmental organizations.

The cash-strapped government halted the supply of food assistance for the refugees on Jan. 1 and instead offered them the choice of staying in Indonesia under a resettlement program or returning to East Timor.

The refugees are the last of the some 250,000 others who fled the carnage unleashed by pro-Jakarta militias in East Timor after it voted to secede from Indonesia in August 1999. Many of the other refugees have since returned to their homeland.

However, the estimated 128,000 refugees currently languishing in West Timor and Kupang have refused to leave the camps until East Timor officially becomes an independent state on May 20, 2002.

Residents in Noelbaki, Tuapukan and Naibonat have complained of violence and terror perpetrated by refugees who steal from them and rob them for food.

Udayana Military Commander Maj. Gen. Wellem T. da Costa ordered soldiers last week to shoot any East Timor refugees found committing violence against villagers living near the camps.