Refugees to receive emergency food aid

Refugees to receive emergency food aid

Yemris Fointuna, The Jakarta Post, Kupang

Starving East Timorese refugees currently languishing in East
Nusa Tenggara will be able to hang on a little bit longer after
the provincial government, citing humanitarian reasons, finally
decided to resume providing them with food assistance.

The cash-strapped government had stopped the supply of relief
aid for the 128,000 refugees on Jan. 1, forcing many of them to
go hungry or seek out food in the forest.

Deputy NTT Governor Johanis Pake said on Wednesday the
provincial government would give rice selectively to those
refugees who were in dire straits.

The emergency aid would not be distributed on a permanent
basis and would only be incidental in nature, he said. Only those
really facing starvation would be given assistance.

"Based on humanitarian values and the emergency situation
under which the East Timorese refugees are facing starvation,
the NTT government has decided to take the initiative and provide
them with rice assistance," Pake told a press conference in the
provincial capital of Kupang.

He said the local administration had allocated 30,600 tons of
cheap rice to be distributed as emergency assistance.

At least 20,600 tons of the total figure were already
available in warehouses belonging to the provincial logistics
agency (Dolog), and the remaining 10,000 tons were being
transported to Kupang from Java, he said.

Furthermore, the East Nusa Tenggara social affairs office had
set aside more than 161 tons of rice which could be distributed
at any time as additional assistance for refugees should new
emergencies arise, Pake added.

The deputy governor could not say when the emergency food
assistance would start being distributed to the refugees as his
office had still to consult with the central government over the
effects of the decision.

He hoped the central government would support the plan and
take emergency measures to tackle starvation among the refugees.

Pake said the local administration would soon identify the
refugees to determine which of them were badly in need of the
emergency assistance so that the selective distributions of rice
would not miss the intended targets.

"If based on the identification certain refugees are found to
be really starving, they will be categorized as disadvantaged and
will therefore be entitled to receive the rice aid. And in terms
of food distribution, they will be treated on the same basis as
local disadvantaged people."

Earlier on Wednesday, representatives of some 20,000 refugees
from Kupang camps visited the governor's office for the second
time this week to ask for food assistance for the East Timorese.

The representatives included Jose Gutteres and Muhajri, both
coordinators of the Noelbaki refuge camp; Gustaf L. Lapenangga,
coordinator of the Tuapukan camp; and Francisco da Costa,
coordinator of the Naibonat camp.

They demanded that the central government and international
organizations take emergency measures to immediately save the
refugees from starvation.

The representatives said on Monday that refugees living in
Tuapukan, Noelbaki and Naibonat had been forced to seek food from
the nearby jungle in an effort to survive.

They had begun to eat leaves, wild fruit and all kinds of
tubers which they found in the forest.

At least 15 refugees have died from malaria, diarrhea and
other diseases over recent months, according to activists from
non-governmental organizations.

Local residents have complained of intimidation, terror and
violence perpetrated by armed refugees living near their
villages. They have also reported several cases of theft and
rubbery.

The government has offered the refugees the choice of staying
in Indonesia under a resettlement program or returning to East
Timor. The refugees have promised to return to their homeland
after it becomes a fully independent state on May 20.