Regencies don't want ex-militia

Regencies don't want ex-militia

Yemris Fointuna, The Jakarta Post, Kupang, East Nusa Tenggara

At least five of 14 regencies in East Nusa Tenggara have refused
to give land for resettlement areas for thousands of East
Timorese refugees still languishing in camps across the province.

The rejection was made in a joint statement by the five
regents of Kupang, South Central Timor, North Central Timor, Alor
and Belu.

A copy of the letter was sent to the Coordinating Body for
Disaster Prevention and Refugee Handling (Bakornas PBP) in
Jakarta.

Stanis Tefa, secretary of East Nusa Tenggara's taskforce of
PBP, confirmed on Monday the refusal by the five regencies.

"It's true that we have received a written statement from
those regents, which says they will not provide land for
resettlement areas for East Timorese refugees," he told The
Jakarta Post.

Tefa, who is also the secretary of the provincial
administration, said the protest would have a serious impact on
efforts to deal with the refugees, particularly those who have
decided to stay in Indonesia as citizens.

"The regents want the East Timorese refugees resettled outside
East Nusa Tenggara because they cannot mingle with local people.
That's why we need to find an alternate solution by relocating
them to Kalimantan or other provinces across Indonesia."

Tefa said the number of East Timorese refugees still in the
camps in the five regencies was around 28,000, comprising 9,000
families.

Most of them are former pro-Indonesia militias who were
refused repatriation to their homeland of East Timor.

The refugees have refused to be resettled in any of the nine
other regencies of the province, but it was not clear why.

"Following the rejection, the East Nusa Tenggara
administration will ask the central government to find some land
outside the province to resettle the refugees," Tefa added.

The refugees were among some 250,000 people who were forced to
flee from East Timor during the intense violence in aftermath of
the vote for independence in 1999.

However, most of them were repatriated to East Timor over the
past four years.