Refugees want resettlement

PALU, Central Sulawesi: Thousands of Poso citizens temporarily housed at the Gawalise sports hall in Palu following the outbreak of sectarian clashes in their home town last year, urged that the provincial administration keep its promise to resettle them soon.

Mas Bejo, a 50-year-old refugee from Sangira village in the district of Lore Utara, said that he could not stand being unemployed.

"The more jobless people, the more losses the country will suffer. If we work, we will be able to feed our families and pay taxes," Bejo said. "Therefore, the administration must keep its promise to relocate us."

Echoing Bejo's sentiment, Sumira (40), who was born in Yogyakarta, said he didn't want to return to the village of Mapane in the district of Poso Pesisir.

"How can I go home. Everything I owned has been burned," he said, adding that resettlement would be the best remedy for the refugees.

Deputy head of the provincial office of manpower and transmigration, Suparyono, acknowledged that the provincial administration planned to resettle the refugees, starting this year.

"The first group will include 800 families," Suparyono said, confirming that the refugees would be resettled in the villages of Lalundu and Mananili, in the regency of Donggala.

"Those residing in the restive town of Poso will be resettled in safe areas in the district of Tojo, some 200 kilometers away from Poso," he said.

The regency of Poso has been rocked by sectarian clashes between Christians and Muslims. Thousands have been killed since the clashes started in May of last year. (24/sur)