DATE=11/2/1999
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=U-N-H-C-R / EAST TIMOR (L ONLY)
NUMBER=2-255736
BYLINE=LISA SCHLEIN
DATELINE=GENEVA
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: The U-N refugee agency says anti-independence
militias are obstructing the return of East Timorese
refugees from camps in West Timor. Lisa Schlein in
Geneva reports the agency says the militias also are
preventing aid workers from gaining access to the
refugees.
TEXT: The U-N refugee agency says few East Timorese
are showing up at the agency's processing center in
Kupang, the capital of West Timor. The U-N-H-C-R says
this is because the refugees who remain are in places
controlled by pro-Indonesian militias.
The agency says virtually all the people who were
living temporarily in church facilities in West Timor
have gone home.
U-N-H-C-R spokesman Kris Janowski says aid workers are
encountering difficulties in camps dominated by the
militias. He says in one incident aid workers were
met with such hostility the police had to be called.
Mr. Janowski says the Indonesian government has a
responsibility to guarantee the well-being of refugees
in West Timor.
/// JANOWSKI ACT ///
The Indonesians are gone from East Timor. But,
part of East Timor's population is still in West
Timor, probably held there against their will.
It is really up to the Indonesian government to
essentially accept that things should start anew
and that the policy should change and these
people should be allowed to return to East
Timor.
/// END ACT ///
The Indonesian government estimates about 219-thousand
refugees remain in West Timor. The government says up
to 70-percent of them want to go home. But the U-N
refugee agency says it believes that figure may be
higher.
The refugee agency says 36-thousand-800 East Timorese
have returned from West Timor and other parts of
Indonesia. That includes 12-thousand-700 who have
returned on their own from camps in West Timor.
Meanwhile, U-N agencies are gearing up for a mass
return of up to 300-thousand people who have been
hiding in the hills of East Timor. They fled the
violence which erupted after the pro-independence
referendum August 30th.
The agencies say the displaced people will require
food, shelter, and other relief supplies. (SIGNED)
NEB/LS/JWH
02-Nov-1999 11:33 AM EDT (02-Nov-1999 1633 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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