MINISTER DOUBTS REPORTS ABOUT FAMINE IN YAHUKIMO

Timika, Sept. 9 (ANTARA) - Coordinating Minister for People's Welfare Aburizal Bakrie said he doubted the veracity of reports about famine in Yahukimo which was said to have claimed tens of lives.

"Papua church people told me they have never heard about famine in Yahukimo, only news about harvest failures," Bakrie told the press here Tuesday evening.

He said if the reports of famine were true, the Yahukimo administration should be responsible because a similar case had happened in 2005 and the central government had supplied sweet potato seeds to the area.

In 2006, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono had led a sweet potato grand harvest at Tangma, Bakrie said.

Meanwhile, Rev Lipius Benelux, chairman of the Association of Papua Churches, regretted that churches did not received reports on the alleged famine.

Benelux said he had asked the Yahukimo church leadership to observe conditions in the field and report the findings to him.

However, he had heard that Yahukimo was being hit by a severe drought and sweet potato crops were hit by pests.

According to the famine reports, 92 people had died because of food scarcities in Yahukimo.

Bakrie came to Timika, Papua, to present 390 houses to former members of the outlawed Free Papua Organization (OPM).