Refugees want resettlement

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)