EAST TIMOR CRISIS
Monday 27 September 1999
Ross Mountain, the Humanitarian Coordinator, is still in Dili. We are not sure of when Mr. Mountain will return to Darwin. He is on a helicopter reconnaissance trip today. Mr. Mountain participated briefly in the reconnaissance trip to Baucau yesterday, the details of which will be summarized for you.
- Reconnaissance by road to Baucau, 25 September
A two-day assessment mission was conducted by the International humanitarian community with escorts provided by INTERFET. The assessment team consisted of the following persons: 2 from OCHA, 2 INTERFET military liaison officers; 2 UNAMET military liaison officers, 1 NGO (MSF) and about 10 members of the media.
A crowd of people welcomed the UN convoy. Baucau is largely intact with only 5% of the infrastructure damaged. Humanitarian agencies are satisfied that there is sufficient infrastructure in Baucau to provide a logistic base for distribution of humanitarian supplies to the eastern part of the island. The hospital has been vandalized, however, the structure is still intact and requires only a minor clean up before becoming operational. The military contingent of the Philippines are in place in Baucau, and they have established a field hospital.
Members of the assessment team mission met with Bishop Nascimento and established the key issues as regarding humanitarian needs:
- Water is supplied by road water tankers. There were 12 water
- tankers previously in Baucau, however, they have been stolen.
- Fuel, 2000 litres remaining which is sufficient for another 4 days.
- Food stocks are adequate for the next month, though assistance is still required.
- No militia activity was noted. There were no signs of malnutrition among the population. All TNI have left Baucau.
After this assessment, the humanitarian community is considering using Baucau (as I mentioned earlier) as the major distribution centre for relief operations in the eastern part of the country.
The humanitarian community will follow up immediately on their findings and are planning a confidence building presence to be established there, in order to encourage the people to return from the hills. Currently, there are some 3,000 IDPs in Baucau town.
- Reconnaissance into Manatuto
Sadly, there has been extensive damage in Manatuto with 80% of the buildings burned down. Little food or medicine is available. People are slowly returning from the hills, an urgent recommendation is made for UN humanitarian presence in Manatuto. The Manatuto region is considered one of the highest priorities for emergency assistance from the humanitarian community.
- Dili:
Security is tense as the last phase of TNI withdrawal from Dili is being conducted over the next 24 hours. However, people continue to return to the city on a daily basis. Access to Dare is good. As of Thursday, the international NGO, World Vision, (WFP's implementing partner) has been making daily trips to Dare carrying between 5 to 6 tonnes of rice. They have also distributed approximately 4 metric tonnes of food to 3,000 IDPs gathered at Remexio, just outside of Dili. On the issue of IDPs, INTERFET and UNHCR will collaborate on the voluntary transfer to the stadium tomorrow of approximately 700 persons currently living near the port in Dili.
- Food Drops
Yesterday, WFP airdropped 6 metric tonnes of high energy biscuits (as part of the snowdrop exercise) equalling approximately 80,000 biscuits. They also dropped six metric tonnes of HDRs yesterday, that is approximately 1,000 meals. Today, two flights are planned. One carrying a mix of high energy biscuits and HDRS. The second flight will carry only HDRs. The total tonnage to be delivered today is 12.
In addition to WFP airdrops, the Australian Air Force is also conducting daily airdrops of up to 3 flights, carrying US donated HDRs. Yesterday, 3 flights, approximately, 23 tonnes in total were delivered to the following locations: Remexio (Dili), Suai and Kailaco (Bobonaro). Today, two drops are planned carrying approximately 16 tonnes of HDRs to the Lospalos region.
- Aerial Reconnaissance, Oekussi:
An inter-agency assessment was made to Oekussi yesterday, with assessments made on the western sectors of East Timor as well. Most towns and villages have been largely destroyed. In the western sector, Suai Regency is 90% destroyed. Ainaro and Same suffered extensive damage with 60% of the buildings destroyed.
- Health
UNICEF reports that six medical facilities in Dili are ready for operations. (This figure is only for the eastern and western sectors of Dili.) Assessments for southern sector will take place today. Assessment into other areas outside of the city will start as soon as possible.
The Acting Humanitarian Coordinator, Abdul Mejid Hussein, would like to make a brief statement:
I think Afia has already covered most of the humanitarian issues. I would like to add one more item and then open the floor for questions. This morning at 0730 we had a meeting with the Northern Territory government, key members of the government, representatives of all leading business groups, and the Chambers of Commerce. At this meeting, which was attended by the representatives of the UN agencies, I must say that we expressed, of course, our gratitude to the Australian government, federal and NT government, as well as the city council, for all the support the humanitarian agencies have been receiving so far, which I must say has been exemplary.
Having said this, we had some welcoming new support expressed at this meeting by the NT government. They are willing to look at several areas: port management, support for water and sanitation, and health. From the University of Darwin, the Vice Chancellor was here and referred to the previous links that they had had with the University of Dili, which I have seen as totally burned. They are prepared to re-establish those links, and to give training etc. In a nutshell, we had a very good meeting and hopefully something will come out of that.
The floor is open for questions.
A.A. -- OCHA, Darwin
27-IX-99
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