Muhamad Nashim, a refugee from Afghanistan, was left needing 10 stitches after he was hit on the head with a metal pole by fellow refugees at the camp.

The source of the violence was packets of wafers the refugees had found in the on-site warehouse.

“We were hungry. Yesterday [Thursday], we had to share one boxed lunch with four other people. When the officials distributed the wafers, the Sudanese grabbed more than their share, which made a lot of Afghans angry,” Nashim told The Jakarta Post on Friday in Indonesian.

Kartiwan, an officer of the Jakarta Social Affairs Agency's disaster mitigation and emergency response unit (Tagana) that oversees the camp, said that logistical aid for refugees was stopped on Thursday. This had left the camp's 1,115 refugees hungry, exacerbating their already difficult living conditions due to the water shortage and lack of sanitary facilities at the camp.

“The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees [UNHCR], which is responsible for the asylum seekers, stopped its financial aid on August 18, while the Social Affairs Agency was only able to provide food assistance for [the next] three days, on August 19-21,” said Kartiwan.

He continued that on Aug. 22, Jakarta-based Muslim philanthropy Dompet Dhuafa had donated around 400 lunch boxes to the camp, but this was not enough to feed all refugees.

“They grew angry because they had not eaten enough, so they raided the shelter’s warehouse, where they found around 20 packs of wafers, diapers, sanitary pads and toothbrushes,” he said.

Kartiwan said he tried to distribute the supplies in an orderly fashion, but that a fight broke out between Afghan and Sudanese refugees because there was not enough for everyone. He said several refugees grabbed tent poles and used them to beat each other, and five people needed to be taken to a hospital because of their injuries.

Worried about their safety after the fight, around 100 refugees from Sudan and Somalia left to sleep on the sidewalks in front of the camp.

At noon on Friday, dozens of men and women — many holding infants and children — could be observed still sleeping in the shade of the trees on the sidewalks.

“We were scared to go back inside the building because there are many more Afghan refugees at the shelter than us," Nashir Ali Muhammad from Somalia told the Post. "If another fight broke out, no one can ensure our safety. There are almost a thousand Afghans in the shelter, while we barely number a hundred, so it’s better for us to sleep outside,” he said.

The recent brawl is just one of the many difficulties asylum seekers face at the camp. Aside from food aid, deliveries of drinking water to the camp have also stopped. On Friday afternoon, a pickup truck was seen departing the camp with a load of several portable toilets and water dispensers.

“We haven’t received food assistance in two days, water is scarce, the officials no longer provide drinking water, and now the toilets are gone. The remaining outdoor toilets are locked and unusable,” said Alikhan from Afghanistan.

Amid the worsening situation, the Jakarta administration has asked the camp to be vacated by Aug. 31.

“The responsibility for managing the asylum seekers falls entirely under the authority of the UNHCR. The city administration was merely helping to meet their basic needs for humanitarian reasons until the UNHCR takes over. But in the end, we must return the duty to the UNHCR,” Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan said on Thursday.

The administration transferred the refugees from war-torn countries to the Kalideres camp more than a month ago, and provided food aid and basic supplies.

Nashir said he had no idea where he could go if he was asked to leave the camp, while Ali said he would go back to camping out on the sidewalks in front of the UNHCR office in Kebon Sirih, Central Jakarta.

“I left my country after I lost both parents to war, but my situation here is no better than in my home country," said Ali. "I just want to move on with my life. I’ve wasted six years of my life in foreign countries without any certainty. I just want to start a new life, get a job, and continue my education,” he said.

Before the asylum seekers were relocated to the Kalideres camp, hundreds had camped out for weeks outside the UNHCR office to urge the UN agency to speed up their applications for asylum.

Their relocation sparked objections from local residents, as the former Kodim site is next to an elementary school. (nal)

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