DATE=10/19/1999
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=UNHCR TIMOR (L-ONLY)
NUMBER=2-255239
BYLINE=LISA SCHLEIN
DATELINE=GENEVA
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: The United Nations Refugee Agency, U-N-H-
C-R, reports that thousands of people poured
across the border from West to East Timor on
Tuesday. Lisa Schlein in Geneva reports the
agency says this is the first large-scale, return
of refugees to East Timor since it began
repatriating the East Timorese refugees over one
week ago.
TEXT: The U-N Refugee Agency estimates up to
six-thousand refugees have crossed into East
Timor at a rate of about 500 people an hour. The
agency believes this number could swell to 17-
thousand by the end of the day. The refugees,
mostly women and children, are arriving in the
border town of Maliana. Many are coming by foot.
The people have been telling aid workers they had
been forcibly pushed into West Timor by militias
in early September, only days after the pro-
independence referendum was held in East Timor.
U-N-H-C-R spokesman, Kris Janowski, says the
people are returning on their own because they
believe it is safe to go back home.
/// JANOWSKI ACT ///
At the same time, we're seeing a return
from the hills of primarily men who had
been in hiding for weeks now trying to find
and join their families. They're coming to
the Maliana and to (the) Suai area which is
on the seacoast - very destroyed, almost
completely looted. Nonetheless deemed by
the people as fairly secure with Interfet
(international peacekeepers) establishing
their presence there.
///END ACT///
Mr. Janowski says several aid agencies are
rushing plastic sheeting and water containers for
about 25-thousand people to the area. He says a
convoy with food and other relief supplies will
follow. In the meantime, Mr. Janowski says the
repatriation operation is gathering momentum. He
says there are now four flights leaving every day
from the West Timorese capital, Kupang, for Dili.
And, the agency has lined up two boats to take
people home by sea.
/// JANOWSKI ACT ///
The boat would certainly increase the
return and the whole capacity of this whole
movement. At the same time, we're setting
up a transit center for people who are
being flown from Kupang to the East. And
this transit center is being set up in
Kupang. It will be handling thousands of
people a day.
/// END ACT ///
Mr. Janowski says the refugees will be bussed to
the center from camps. They will be registered
and given a medical checkup before they leave for
East Timor. Aid workers say local authorities
have been very helpful in establishing the
center. The refugee agency reports nearly three-
thousand people have been repatriated to East
Timor from West Timor and the Indonesian capital,
Jakarta, over the past week. (Signed)
NEB/LS/GE/JP
19-Oct-1999 14:14 PM EDT (19-Oct-1999 1814 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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