DATE=7/27/1999
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=EAST TIMOR - UNHCR (L-ONLY)
NUMBER=2-252199
BYLINE=LISA SCHLEIN
DATELINE=GENEVA
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: The Indonesian government has asked the United
Nations Refugee Agency - U-N-H-C-R -- to look after
tens of thousands of displaced people in Timor. Lisa
Schlein in Geneva reports the agency will be sending
four staff members this week to East and West Timor to
set up a humanitarian operation in the area.
TEXT: This is the first time the U-N Refugee Agency
will be moving into Timor to look after displaced
people. U-N-H-C-R spokesman Kris Janowski says the
Agency is going there at the request of the Indonesian
government and the U-N mission stationed in East
Timor.
/// FIRST JANOWSKI ACT///
Over the past two and a half months, up to 60-
thousand people have been displaced in East
Timor. There's been a campaign of intimidation
launched by opponents of militias opposed to
East Timor's independence. All this extension of
violence is a run-up to a referendum on the
future of East Timor, which is supposed to take
place in the second half of August.
/// END ACT ///
At the same time, Mr. Janowski says up to 10-thousand
opponents of East Timor's independence have fled to
West Timor. He says most of these people are
immigrants from other parts of Indonesia. He says no
referendum is to be held on the future status of West
Timor. So, people there won't be subject to the
outcome of the vote in the eastern part of the
territory. Mr. Janowski says three U-N aid workers
will set up an office in Dili, the capital of East
Timor. A fourth person will oversee the Agency's
operations in West Timor. He says more people may be
sent to the region if the situation worsens.
The U-N-H-C-R spokesman says the emergency program in
Timor will initially run for six months.
/// SECOND JANOWSKI ACT///
The people lack food. They lack medicines.
They lack a proper shelter. They lack blankets
and the usual things which people need who had
to leave their homes in a rush. So the aid will
be essentially trying to bring those things to
them. And also monitor the protection situation
from our point of view.
/// END ACT ///
Mr. Janowski says the U-N Refugee Agency will monitor
the situation to see if the number of displaced people
grows. If that happens, he says, more U-N staff will
probably be sent to East Timor. He says the Agency
can not physically protect civilians against acts of
brutality. But he notes the presence of international
aid workers often acts as a deterrent to violence.
(Signed)
NEB/LS/GE/WTW
27-Jul-1999 09:32 AM LOC (27-Jul-1999 1332 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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