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Kai islanders face disease after war

Source
Reuters - July 19, 1999

Chris McCall, Tual – Nearly 40 people displaced by communal violence in Indonesia's remote Kai islands have died of malnutrition or disease in crude refugee camps that dot the once idyllic archipelago, local aid workers say.

Yayasan Nen Mas-Il, a voluntary body providing much of the minimal aid, says it knows of 38 deaths among the more than 14,000 refugees it is working with.

With tension simmering in the remote island group, many are afraid to leave their camps, however miserable the conditions. Many are corrugated-iron shanties without proper toilets, where these people have been living for up to four months.

The Kai islands are in the extreme east of Indonesia and their isolation has limited the flow of aid. What there is has mainly come from local volunteers, often at their own expense.

"On average someone dies every three days," said Fadilah Toatubun, a doctor working in the camps. Diarrhoea, measles and other easily treatable problems are common causes of death.

Many refugees are Moslem fishermen whose gear was burnt along with their villages. Their protein came from fish, Toatubun explains. Lack of clean water is another major problem.

When violence between Christians and Moslems flared in April in the Kais, 3,300 km east of Jakarta, up to one-third of the islands' 110,000 people were uprooted.

Although semi-official tallies put the number of dead in clashes at upwards of 150, locals say the true figure is almost certainly higher. Many bodies were chopped up, they say. Malnutrition, measles and malaria have since emerged as well.

Dozens of burnt-out communities along the coasts of the main islands of Kai Besar and Kai Kecil attest to the scale of the violence. The clashes, like elsewhere in the Moluccas, were mainly fought with bows, arrows, knives and other traditional weapons, which are still stored in many villages.

Jamhur Fakoubun, 30, says he fled his fishing village in Kai Besar four months ago with his family when a nearby Christian community attacked. Two members of his village were killed. "If we go back again maybe they will attack again – maybe it will be worse," he said.

They have lost the tools of their trade and instead of the streams they used to have to wash in at any time, they now get water by truck twice a week. "They have to wash in the sea because there is no water for washing," says volunteer nurse Rus Dianto, adding that in their own villages these people had regular water from streams. But few refugees have returned to their villages, fearing further attacks.

In the capital, Tual, everything has been divided along religious lines, including aid operations. Moslems work with Moslems, Christians with Christians and they avoid unnecessary trips into the opposing camps' territory. Moslems do not trust Christian doctors and Christians feel the same way about Moslems.

There is a heavy military presence and the tension is obvious. Christian drivers think twice before crossing the bridge into the Moslem-dominated town centre and Moslem drivers think twice before going the other way.

With many people now looking for revenge, their future looks bleak. "We don't know for certain when we can leave here," said teacher Hadi Letsoin, 38.

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