Flyktninger fra Øst-Timor står overfor nye farer

JAKARTA (FIDES/CWNews.com) - The Indonesian government has threatened to cut aid to some 100,000 displaced persons from East Timor who are now living in refugee camps in West Timor. But volunteer workers have told Fides new agency that the threat of an end to that humanitarian aid is less frightening than the terror caused by the paramilitary groups that dominate many of the camps.

"The food situation is critical" said Cassianus Teguh-Budiarto a volunteerworking with the Jesuit Refugee Service in Atambua, on the border that divides East and West Timor. "The government still hands over about 15,000 rupiah ($2) per person, per month, for food, although the money does not arrive regularly and is often months late in coming. The news that the West Timor government will soon cut humanitarian aid, the volunteer said, has motivated many refugees to seek to return to East Timor"

Recently the West Timor Governor Pieter Tallo said that the province is in financial difficulty. The central Indonesian government had threatened to cut aid at the end of March. On March 31, foreign minister Alwi Shihab said "There is room for extending the refugee deadline-- if the international community can provide additional financial assistance." Vice provincial governor Johannes Pake said the government must assign more funds because the already impoverished local people have become exhausted taking care of the refugees. The authorities tried to convince refugees to move elsewhere, but only 150 families accepted.

Indonesia's national budget opens the new fiscal year of 2000-2001 in April 2000. The central government argues it cannot support the East Timorese refugees for an indeterminate length of time while there are another 400,000 refugees from various other conflicts across the country who need attention, particularly in the Moluccas and in Aceh, the northern tip of Sumatra.

But aside this precarious financial situation there is another more serous problem: "The refugees are too frightened" to be worried about the loss of humanitarian aid, says Cassianus, because militiamen command many of the camps terrorizing the refugees. In Lebur camp, one of the largest in West Timor, militiamen guards have let the refugees return to East Timor. But at the Haliwen and Haliluli camps many Indonesian soldiers of East Timorese origin, along with militiamen, threatened the refugees and warned them not to leave the camps. "They apparently hold the refugees for their ends" he explained.

Bishop Anton Pain Ratu of Atambua reports that many people are uncertain what they should do. This uncertainly, added to serious shortage of food, "could provoke incidents of violence" he told Fides. He said many had tried to return to their homes, but they faced more uncertainty in the newly born country of East Timor and terror because they were suspected of being pro- Indonesia supporters, who are now unwanted in their old homes.

Suspicion leads to violence. One volunteer said he accompanied the return of some East Timorese, "former militiamen who tried to enter, were greeted by the local people by beating and prison in Dili." He said: "Civil power in East Timor has not yet reached full security control." The Jesuit Refugee Service has filed a complaint with the East Timorese civil authority in Dili asking why they urge agencies in West Timor to send refugees back, when in East Timor they are unable to guarantee security for returning refugees.

The Jesuit Refugee Service in Atambua has been making an effort to help communication between East Timorese families separated forcibly after the post-independence ballot terror campaign in September 1999, with personal letters, photos, and videos: "We hope to encourage them to return" the volunteer explained, But only 8000 have done so to date.

The Jesuit Service works in collaboration with the UN office of refugees, helping to register the refugees who are willing to return. But even UN officials have been intimidated by militiamen. Former supporters of Indonesian rule, now calling themselves the Unit of Timorese with Dignity, refuse to engage in dialogue with the United Nations, and are still encouraging pro-Indonesian refugees to stay in West Timor.

Catholic World News - Feature