AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, Tuesday December 24, 2002
Indonesia to halt all aid to internal refugees in February
JAKARTA, Dec 24 (AFP) - The Indonesian government is to suspend aid to internal
refugees come February because there are no longer any conflict areas in the
country, a minister said Tuesday.
"There are no more conflict areas. What is left is to repatriate the refugees," top
welfare minister Yusuf Kalla said after meeting Vice President Hamzah Haz, the
Detikcom online news service reported.
Kalla said the separatist conflict in Aceh was resolved and violence between Muslims
and Christians had ended both in the Maluku islands and at Poso in Sulawesi. There
was also no further racial or communal violence in several areas of Kalimantan.
"If by the set deadline the refugee problem cannot yet be settled, then the government
will no longer provide (aid) guarantees because it considers that the regions are
already safe," he said.
The government now provides food and monetary assistance worth 3,000 rupiah (35
cents) per day for thousands of refugees from various conflict areas.
Kalla estimated there were still as many as 200,000 internally displaced people in
Ambon, North Maluku and Madura island. Another 25,000 remained in East Timor.
Kalla initiated two peace pacts between Muslim and Christian communities in the
Maluku and North Maluku provinces and in Poso district. Sporadic clashes continue
in those areas.
Madura is home to thousands of ethnic Madurese who fled West and Central
Kalimantan following attacks by indigenous Dayaks and Malays.
UN officials estimate that almost 1.4 million Indonesians remain displaced after fleeing
their homes since 1999 to escape various outbreaks of violence.
Copyright © 2002 AFP. All rights reserved.
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