DATE=1/17/2000
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=UNHCR / TIMOR (L-ONLY)
NUMBER=2-258136
BYLINE=LISA SCHLEIN
DATELINE=GENEVA
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: The United Nations Refugee Agency, U-N-H-
C-R, reports more people, many alleged to be
former members of militia gangs, are returning to
East Timor from camps in West Timor. Lisa
Schlein in Geneva reports the agency says most of
the returns have gone smoothly, but there have
been some problems.
TEXT: The United Nations Refugee Agency and
other aid organizations have set up a mediation
process in East Timor to help smooth the return
of alleged former militia members.
Militia gangs and members of the Indonesian army
went on a destructive rampage following the pro-
independence referendum in August.
U-N-H-C-R spokesman Ron Redmond says many East
Timorese do not want militia sympathizers in
West Timor to return to their part of the island.
Therefore, he says the mediation process is
essential. He says returnees are reintroduced to
their communities where they attend
reconciliation meetings with their former
neighbors and community groups.
/// REDMOND ACT ///
So far, we've mediated 51 separate cases of
people who were brought back to their
communities after reconciliation meetings.
27 of these were in Dili. We've done some
follow-up visits that have shown that all
of these people are now back in their homes
and their reintroduction into their
communities has been successful.
///END ACT///
The U-N Refugee Agency says it expects many more
people alleged to have links with pro-militia
groups will want to return to the homes they
abandoned in East Timor.
At the height of the refugee crisis, more than
200-thousand people lived in makeshift camps in
West Timor. An estimated 100-thousand remain.
Mr. Redmond says most of the people who fled or
were forcibly deported to West Timor since have
returned home. He says many of those remaining
in the camps are believed to have opposed
independence. He says the United Nations and its
sister agencies are bracing for problems as more
of these people return home. Last week, he says
a neighborhood in East Timor's capital, Dili,
refused to accept the return of three families
and three individuals to the area.
/// 2ND REDMOND ACT ///
People in the neighborhood alleged that
both the men and the women that we were
trying to return had been active in the
militia. There had been a little bit of
pushing and shoving involved in this. So
U-N-H-C-R and its partners are still
working on these particular cases to try to
get them back home.
/// END ACT ///
Mr. Redmond says tensions at the Dili transit
center have risen as more alleged militia members
have returned. He says young men are hanging
around the entrance, trying to identify any
Timorese moving in or out. He says the U-N
Refugee Agency has posted more security guards at
the transit center to ensure that returnees are
not harassed. (Signed)
NEB/LS/GE/KL
17-Jan-2000 09:44 AM EDT (17-Jan-2000 1444 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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