Kupang – After living for 13 years in shelters with no certain future, 15 people who fled East Timor before it became Timor Leste are returning home.

The repatriation was facilitated by the Center for IDP Services (CIS) Timor, an NGO providing outreach programs to displaced people since 1999.

Umbu Rame Bunga, a CIS volunteer, said in a press release that the refugees would make the trip to Timor Leste by land.

Reports said that many international organizations had stopped their repatriation programs after Indonesia abolished their status as refugees in 2005. According to Umbu, around 100,000 people still live in shelters.