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DATE=12/7/1999
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=U-N / TIMOR (L ONLY)
NUMBER=2-256931
BYLINE=LISA SCHLEIN
DATELINE=GENEVA
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO:  United Nations and private aid agencies have 
sent a 41-member medical team to a refugee camp in 
West Timor to deal with a reported upsurge in disease 
among the East Timorese refugees.  Lisa Schlein in 
Geneva reports local authorities estimate more than 
170 people have died in the camp since September.
TEXT:  U-N and private aid agencies say they are 
worried the death toll could rise as conditions get 
worse in the overcrowded refugee camps in West Timor.
Aid workers call the conditions appalling.  They say 
half of the 192 latrines in the Tua Pukan camp are  
not  working.  They say water sources are contaminated 
and the water being delivered by trucks is  not  
treated to make it safe for drinking.
They say the weakest people, mainly young children and 
the elderly, are dying from disease.  Young children, 
in particular, are suffering from diarrhea and 
malaria.  U-N refugee agency spokesman Kris Janowski 
says four children under five died on Monday at Tua 
Pukan.
            /// JANOWSKI ACT ///
      While U-N-H-C-R's main focus in West Timor is 
      repatriation, we are concerned by the appalling 
      conditions at the Tua Pukan camp.  There are 
      also a number of makeshift camps in West Timor 
      and we are afraid with the onset of the rainy 
      season, conditions there will worsen and become 
      similar to Tua Pukan.
            /// END ACT ///
The U-N refugee agency has only limited access to the 
Tua Pukan refugee camp, and  no  access to any of the 
other camps.  Mr. Janowski says the agency is afraid 
conditions in these off-limit camps may even be worse 
than in Tua Pukan.
Mr. Janowski says pro-Indonesian militias are 
continuing to intimidate and harass the refugees.  
But, he says one positive development in the security 
situation is the agreement in principle by Indonesian 
military authorities to separate the militias in the 
camps from the refugees.
            /// JANOWSKI ACT ///
      In our meetings locally in Kupang, the local 
      military and provincial officials have offered a 
      facility to shelter the militias and their 
      families and basically separate them from the 
      remaining refugee population.  First, it remains 
      to be seen whether this actually will happen.
            /// END ACT ///
Mr. Janowski says the director of the agency's Asia 
bureau is in West Timor discussing the security 
problems with local officials.  He says repatriation 
efforts continue to be hampered by the militias.  He 
says many refugees fear going back to East Timor 
because of intimidation by militia thugs.  On Tuesday, 
the agency reports only 314 Timorese returned home 
from the militia-controlled camps.
So far, more than 110-thousand Timorese have gone 
back.  Another 140-thousand remain in West Timor and 
other parts of Indonesia. (Signed)
NEB/LS/JWH/ENE/JP
07-Dec-1999 12:24 PM EDT (07-Dec-1999 1724 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
.