DATE=9/15/1999
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=E. TIMOR / AID (L)
NUMBER=2-253904
BYLINE=KYLE KING
DATELINE=JAKARTA
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: Passage of the U-N resolution
authorizing an international peacekeeping force
for East Timor is expected to help speed aid
deliveries to hundreds-of-thousands of
internally displaced refugees who are without
food and clean water. Correspondent Kyle King
has this report from Jakarta.
TEXT: Canada's ambassador to Indonesia, Kenneth
Sundquist, just returned from a fact-finding
mission to assess the humanitarian needs facing
refugees who fled the violence and killing in
East Timor.
Nearly half the people of East Timor are
believed to have fled their homes. Many are
living in camps in West Timor. About 150-
thousand remained behind, without food or
shelter.
Ambassador Sundquist told V-O-A that one of the
most critical problems facing aid workers is
getting access to those internally displaced
refugees.
// SUNDQUIST ACT //
The second question is security. In East Timor
there is no security, in West Timor the relief
workers are being harassed and they can not get
in.
// END ACT //
Speaking to reporters in New Zealand, President
Clinton said Indonesia has a responsibility to
stop the violence and let aid workers in
immediately. Something he said the
international peacekeeping force will also focus
on.
// CLINTON ACT //
It is not just a question of stopping the
violence. We have got to get the N-G-O's and
others in there who can provide humanitarian
relief to people who are within the country.
There are a lot of displaced persons who did not
leave East Timor. We know what we have to do.
All I can tell you is that we will do the best
we can.
// END ACT //
During his mission, the Canadian ambassador said
he also raised concerns with Indonesian
officials about the fact that most of the
refugees in the camps in West Timor are women
and children.
// SUNDQUIST ACT TWO //
What struck me first was that it is almost
entirely women and children. There are very few
men. That is frightening. It may well be that
the men are just in the hills for fighting, but
we do not know.
// END ACT //
The ambassador said it was difficult to question
refugees about what had happened to the men
because many people were intimidated by the
presence of Indonesian security forces. But he
says the delegation was told the men simply
stayed behind in the hills of East Timor.
The ambassador says most of the refugees living
in camps told him they wanted to return to their
homes as soon as it is safe, something that will
likely take time and international troops to
bring about. (SIGNED)
NEB/KBK/LTD/RAE
15-Sep-1999 08:18 AM LOC (15-Sep-1999 1218 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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