DATE=3/10/2000
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=TIMOR REFUGEES (L-ONLY)
NUMBER=2-260066
BYLINE=LISA SCHLEIN
DATELINE=GENEVA
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: The United Nations Refugee Agency, U-N-H-C-R,
says it is concerned about Indonesia's plans to cut
off aid to East Timorese refugees in West Timor by the
end of the month. Lisa Schlein in Geneva reports the
agency says the Indonesian authorities want the
refugees to decide by then whether or not they want to
return home.
TEXT: About 100-thousand East Timorese refugees
remain in camps in West Timor. U-N-H-C-R spokesman
Ron Redmond says the Indonesian authorities have given
the refugees until the end of March to decide whether
they want to remain in Indonesia or go back to East
Timor. He says this ultimatum is putting unfair
pressure on the refugees.
/// REDMOND ACT ///
The March 31st deadline may force people to make
a decision before they are ready, and a lot of
people cannot, we believe, make a free decision
because there is continued intimidation of those
refugees by anti-independence militia in West
Timor.
/// END ACT ///
Mr. Redmond says the refugee agency has conveyed its
concerns to Indonesian authorities in the capital,
Jakarta. He says they have given assurances that
Jakarta would be flexible in enforcing the deadline.
He says Indonesian authorities also promised to do
more to reign in the militias who are intimidating
refugees in West Timor camps and preventing them from
going home. He says he believes about half of the
100-thousand East Timorese refugees would like to go
home. The other half, he says would eventually be
resettled elsewhere in Indonesia.
An estimated 150-thousand refugees have gone back to
East Timor since September. Many have gone back on
their own. Others have returned under an organized
United Nations repatriation operation.
The International Organization for Migration
transports the refugees home by boat and bus. A
spokeswoman for the organization, Niurka Pineiro, says
anti-independence militiamen continue to disrupt the
returns.
/// PINEIRO ACT ///
Yesterday (Thursday), there were grenades, guns and
drugs found on one of these boats, the "Patricia Ann
Hotung" returning from Dili to Kupang. And there were
386 returnees on board. Civpol [civilian police]
arrested several -- we think five -- suspected
militia members who were on board.
/// END ACT ///
Ms. Pineiro says Saturday's sailing has been postponed
until new screening procedures are in place to prevent
further smuggling. (Signed)
NEB/LS/GE/WTW
10-Mar-2000 11:43 AM EDT (10-Mar-2000 1643 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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