Resettlement project to commence in West Sumba

Resettlement project to commence in West Sumba

Kurniawan Hari, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), in
cooperation with the government, will resettle an estimated
30,000 East Timorese refugees who have decided to stay in
Indonesia and not return home.

UNHCR officials said that they had been working with the
Coordinating Ministry for Peoples' Welfare and the Ministry of
Resettlement and Regional Infrastructure for this purpose.

"We will initiate a pilot project early this year in West
Sumba where the local community is ready to accept the refugees
to stay in the regency," said Fernando Protti-Alvarado, the
assistant regional representative, at a news briefing here on
Wednesday.

Basically, the UNHCR and the government have agreed that both
sides would resettle the refugees in any region where local
communities were ready to accept them.

"This is time consuming, but it will avoid any potential
conflict in the future," Protti-Alvarado added.

Also speaking at the news briefing were UNHCR Regional
Representative Robert P. Ashe and his assistant Choosin
Ngaotheppitak.

Protti-Alvarado explained that his office had outlined a
resettlement scheme that would be disseminated to regions who
expressed a willingness to accommodate the refugees.

The resettlement scheme offers aid packages for refugees who
are willing to move to new resettlement areas. It includes
domestic needs or food assistance for up to nine months.

UNHCR will work closely with the United Nations Development
Program (UNDP), which will give financial assistance to host
communities where the refugees settle.

The amount of funds, he said, would depend on the number of
families relocating to the area.

Earlier reports said that the government had prepared a number
of resettlement sites for refugees in the East Sumba, West Sumba
and Ngada regencies, all in the East Nusa Tenggara province,
while South Kalimantan and Central Kalimantan have offered
resettlement sites under the local transmigration scheme.

The refugees have welcomed the move, but demanded that the
government provide support facilities, such as schools and health
centers at the resettlement sites.

Meanwhile, Ashe disclosed that 4,323 East Timorese children
had become separated from their parents following the bloody
rampage in Dili in 1999 after a UN-sanctioned referendum resulted
in East Timor's cessation from Indonesia.

The ensuing violence killed hundreds of civilians, mostly
independence supporters, and destroyed almost 80 percent of the
infrastructure in the former Portuguese colony, which achieved
full independence on May 20, 2002.

Ashe added that almost half the number of separated children
were in East Timor while their parents may have fled to West
Timor.

He added that a total of 3,504 cases of separated children had
been closed for several reasons. At least 2,131 children were
reunited with their families while the 1,373 other cases were
closed because the children had turned 18, got married or had
died.

Although a large number of cases have been closed, there are
still 819 separated children in various cities throughout the
country.

"Our agenda is to ensure that contact is reestablished between
children and their parents," Ashe said.