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DATE=3/29/2000
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=TIMOR / REFUGEES (L-ONLY)
NUMBER=2-260720
BYLINE=PATRICIA NUNAN
DATELINE=KUPANG
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: The United Nations and the Indonesian 
government may be making headway in talks aimed 
at allowing continued humanitarian assistance to 
East Timorese refugees living in West Timor. As 
Patricia Nunan reports from the capital of West 
Timor, Kupang, Indonesia's Defense Minister met 
Wednesday with the head of the U-N mission to 
East Timor.
TEXT: Speaking after a meeting with the head of 
the United Nations mission in East Timor, Sergio 
de Mello -- Indonesian Defense Minister Juwono 
Sudarsono says that plans by the government to 
cut off aid to East Timorese refugees may still 
be open to change.
            //SUDARSONO ACT// 
I'm very optimistic that the assistance by the 
Indonesian government and the international 
community will go on after the first of April.
            //END ACT//
That is a shift in tone.  The United Nations High 
Commission for Refugees released a statement 
earlier in the day expressing its concern with a 
government announcement that aid would be cut off 
on March 31st.
More than 100 thousand East Timorese refugees 
remain in West Timor, having fled neighboring 
East Timor during the rampage of killing and 
violence by pro-Jakarta militias last September. 
The militia attacks occurred in the aftermath of 
the overwhelming vote by the East Timorese for 
independence from Indonesia.
The United Nations launched a peacekeeping 
mission in East Timor to help form viable 
government institutions -- and also to help East 
Timorese refugees who want to return home.
Officials with the UNHCR say cutting off aid to 
the camps would not only have an impact on the 
refugees' living conditions -- but could also 
create instability within the camps.
The Defense Minister also rejected accusations 
that members of the Indonesian Armed Forces, the 
T-N-I, were helping militia leaders in West Timor 
intimidate refugees living inside the camps and 
launch attacks along the border. 
            //ACT SUDARSONO//
We have arrested several leaders in the past 
several weeks. We have clearly declared that all 
of the actions of the recent past are not being 
complicated or abetted by the T-N-I.
            //END ACT//
Aid workers say the militia groups continue to 
prevent refugees from returning to East Timor. 
(signed)
NEB/PN/GC/FC 
29-Mar-2000 06:38 AM EDT (29-Mar-2000 1138 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
.