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Subject: IDP returns slowed by squatters occupying homes
TIMOR-LESTE: IDP returns slowed by squatters occupying homes
DILI, 22 September 2008 (IRIN) - Efforts to return the remaining
internally displaced people (IDPs) to their homes are being hampered by
squatters.
Some 100,000 people were displaced throughout Timor-Leste in 2006 after
an implosion of the national police and defence forces and fighting
between eastern and western factions of the country over the
distribution of power and economic benefits.
However, as of this month, 90 percent of 6,500 IDP families have been
able to return to their original homes, the Ministry of Social
Solidarity said.
Teams comprising government, UN and other agencies are working with
communities to mediate between the returning IDPs and the people
occupying their houses.
"Many secondary occupants have their own needs ? they may well be
housing insecure themselves," UN Development Programme (UNDP) social
reintegration specialist Ben Larke told IRIN.
In many cases the squatters have agreed to vacate houses when approached
by the returning families.
But some claim a stake, saying they spent their own money repairing or
improving the houses, or feel their presence prevented further attacks
and destruction.
"So in some cases, they are asking for compensation," Larke said.
A common and effective solution has been for the returnees to pay some
of their government relocation compensation funds to the occupants as
recompense.
Verification problems
Most of the 6,500 families have received relocation or recovery packages
and 22 camps have been closed since March.
While most families have cooperated with the return programmes, there
has been some resistance and threats to government staff during camp
closures, according to authorities.
Local and UN police now accompany government staff to diffuse tensions.
Some families are frustrated with the process of proving to authorities
the exact extent of the damage to their homes, which is critical to
receiving fair compensation, and thus have been moved to transitional
shelters while the extent of damage and amount of compensation are
assessed.
Filomeno, who did not want his last name used, told IRIN that while he
would rather be going home, he preferred a cement and tin transitional
shelter than remaining in a tent while he verified his details with the
government.
"It's the solution," he told IRIN.
Underlying issues
Many of the camps that were most politically volatile and violent, such
as the massive one near the airport, are among those now closed. "I
think things are going better than expected," Liuz Vieria, country
director of the International Organization for Migration (IOM), told
IRIN.
But he warned that the long-term success reintegrating IDPs to their
homes would depend on communities working collectively to resolve the
underlying issues of the 2006 crisis. "I don't think anyone is sure of
the extent to which we have gotten to that point," he said.
He said while it would not be an easy task, examples existed throughout
the world and even in Timor-Leste, where communities recognised the
benefits of solidarity could outweigh those of continued division and
conflict.
"I don't think it's an impossible battle," Vieira said.
sm/bj/mw
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