Security situation prevents refugees from returning home

Apriadi Gunawan, The Jakarta Post, Tanjung Putus, North Sumatra

Suheri, 27, breathed a sigh of relief when the government and the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) signed a landmark peace agreement last Dec. 9, thinking that peace would soon return to conflict-torn Aceh and that he, his wife, and three children could go back to their home in East Aceh.

But, sporadic armed contact between GAM fighters and the Indonesian Military (TNI) has forced Suheri to delay his home- bound journey.

Languishing in a makeshift camp in neighboring North Sumatra, Suheri, a migrant from Java, is wondering how much longer he and his family members will have to live as refugees in their own land.

The Suheri family is just one of some 23,000 families who fled troubled Aceh in the past few years due to persistent terror and violence. Most of them took sanctuary in squalid camps in North Sumatra, while some went to West Sumatra province or Jakarta.

"I want to go home. It is difficult to find a job in this camp. Sometimes I get work, sometimes I don't. Our lives here are very uncertain," Suheri told The Jakarta Post last Friday at Tanjung Putus refugee camp in Padang Tualang district, Langkat regency, 180 kilometers north of the provincial capital of Medan.

Some families have returned to Aceh after the government signed the peace deal with GAM, which has been fighting for independence for the resource-rich province since 1976.

Most, however, are still waiting in refugees camps in seven regencies across North Sumatra province: Deli Serdang, Langkat, Asahan, Simalungun, Karo, Mandailing Natal and Dairi.

Since they left East Aceh in 2000, Suheri and his family, like other refugees, have counted heavily on the generosity of local people and government assistance which does not come very often.

"I hope all my belongings are still there in Aceh," said Suheri, who left Java and settled in Aceh in 1991.

Despite the Dec. 9 peace agreement, skirmishes between the TNI and rebels have occurred sporadically, threatening the accord. Reports of intimidation, torture and kidnapping have also surfaced.

TNI and GAM fighters engaged in a 25-minute gunfight on Friday in Makmur village in North Aceh. According to Aceh military commander Maj. Gen. Djali Yusuf, at least one soldier was injured in the incident.

"Returning to Aceh is impossible in the near future. Who will guarantee our security if renewed clashes take place?" said Edi Gunawan Sirait, who chairs the Forum for Acehnese Refugees.

But despite the uncertain security conditions, Suheri and other refugees are still dreaming of going back to Aceh.

They also called on the government to guarantee their security to enable them to go home as soon as possible.

The government, for its part, had promised Rp 8.75 million to each refugee family as long as they go home to Aceh.

Another refugee, Mahmun Arman, 38, also expressed his wish to return home but said poor security in Aceh had discouraged him from doing so.

Nevertheless, he and Suheri said they were determined to return to Aceh after they received the assistance fund from the government.

Mahmun, also a non-indigenous Achenese resident who is still stranded in Langkat, said scores of refugees have returned home after receiving government funds despite the high security risks there.

"Many of my friends have gone home to Aceh. Maybe, I will follow suit if I get the funds from the government," he told the Post.

But, the disbursement of the promised funds was temporarily postponed by Minister of Social Affairs Bachtiar Chamsyah on Dec. 13, 2002, following reports of embezzlement by local officials.

Sofyan Nasution, a senior official with the North Sumatra administration, confirmed on Friday that the central government had decided to suspend the disbursement of the funds after many refugees reported that they did not receive the full amount.

In November, refugees who received the funds were allegedly forced to pay between Rp 750,000 and Rp 1 million to local officials.

Police in Binjai district later seized a total of Rp 160 million from those corrupt officials, Sofyan added. It was not clear, however, whether the authorities had taken legal action against them or not.

"We support the central government's decision to temporarily halt the assistance fund because it (the disbursement) would be useless if the money does not go to the refugees," Sofyan told the Post.

He said that the central government had earmarked around Rp 105 billion to help the Acehnese refugees in North Sumatra rebuild their houses and provide food and transport allowances once they returned home to Aceh.

A total of Rp 52.5 billion of the funds was already disbursed for around 6,000 refugee families, each receiving Rp 8.75 million.

According to Sofyan, at least 11,103 families in refugee camps across North Sumatra have not yet received the funds.

However, data from the Langkat administration showed that at least 19,186 families had not yet received the money.

Meanwhile, a group of 12 officials from the United Nations, which recently inspected the refugee camps in North Sumatra, praised the Indonesian government in handling the refugees.

Steven Allen, who led the UN delegation who met Deputy North Sumatra Governor Lundu Panjaitan last Wednesday, said he was satisfied with the Indonesian government's policies in dealing with the refugees.

The Indonesian government should ensure that Achenese refugees are able to get back all the properties they had abandoned in Aceh when they fled, and to ensure that they can go home safely, Allen said.

Allen further said that the United Nations was ready to help the Indonesian government in these two areas, and would also try to persuade donor countries to join in providing humanitarian aid.