DATE=4/7/2000
TYPE=BACKGROUND REPORT
TITLE=TIMOR REFUGEES
NUMBER=5-46093
BYLINE=PATRICIA NUNAN
DATELINE=KUPANG, WEST TIMOR
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: Seven months after armed anti-
independence militia groups rampaged through East
Timor, the aftershocks are still being felt. More
than 140 thousand East Timorese refugees remain
in camps in the Indonesian province of West
Timor. Aid workers fear that continuing
political intimidation by pro-Jakarta groups may
influence the refugees' decision to return to
East Timor, or stay in the camps and begin the
process of becoming Indonesian citizens.
Patricia Nunan traveled to Kupang for a closer
look at West Timor's refugee camps.
/// ACT -- SOUND OF PEOPLE'S NAMES BEING CALLED
ON LOUDSPEAKER ///
TEXT: Aid workers call out the names of refugees
in a camp outside the town of Atambua in West
Timor. The refugees -- mostly women with small
children -- then line up to receive their ration
of food.
The camp is one of at least half a dozen in West
Timor. The camps house the 145-thousand refugees
who fled the bloodshed wrought by pro-Jakarta
militias in East Timor seven months ago,
following the territory's overwhelming vote for
independence.
It is difficult to gauge what influence the
militias have over the refugees. This camp even
shares the name of one of the most-feared
militias in East Timor -- "Aitarak," meaning
"thorn." But Ted Burke, from the aid agency CARE
International, says that could be misleading.
/// TED BURKE ACT ///
The camps have a coordinating body and
Aitarak happens to be the name of a
coordinating body. I don't think there's
any strict rule that says they have to be
part of the militia. There are people here
who aren't part of the militia. It just
happens to be the name of the camp --
Aitarak. There are Aitarak here -- but
it doesn't necessarily mean that they're
all militia. There are families and
children as well.
/// END ACT ///
Atambua is still considered a hotspot. At least
five times last month, militia members crossed
the border near Atambua to launch attacks on
United Nations peacekeepers in East Timor.
/// ACT -- SOUND OF WOMEN WASHING CLOTHES;
SCRUBBING, WATER DRIPPING ///
Outside West Timor's capital Kupang, life in the
Noel Baki refugee camp has taken on a slow
rhythm. Women wash clothes at the community water
tanks, while most others sit outside the wood and
tin shacks they have lived in for more than half
a year -- just waiting.
No one seems in a hurry to go back to East Timor.
/// ACT -- VOX-POP [in Indonesian]///
I'm not going home. I'm staying here -- until I
die," says one woman.
/// ACT -- VOX-POP [in Indonesian]
If East Timor is safe maybe we'll go back, but we
have to see about the situation," says a man.
Still, it is difficult to be certain what the
refugees are really thinking. Every journalist
who enters a refugee camp is escorted by an
Indonesian police officer -- who monitors every
interview. Some refugees may not speak their
minds, because of fear of militia intimidation.
Others may be afraid to contradict what aid
officials say is disinformation put out by local
authorities, who say that East Timor is still
plagued by violence.
Armindo Soares Mariano is with the pro-Indonesia
group the "Union of Timorese Heroes" -- an
umbrella organization for the pro-Jakarta
militias. He says the militias have been
disbanded and the former fighters are the only
ones with anything to fear. And one of the things
they fear is being sent back to East Timor by the
U-N High Commission for Refugees, the U-N-H-C-R.
/// ACT -- MARIANO [in Indonesian]///
The U-N-H-C-R comes to the camps almost
every night and day, and we have no problem
with that. I'm not a militia-man, but if U-
N-H-C-R wants to take my brother back to
East Timor I will say no because -- he will
be suffering in East Timor. Also the
families of ex-militias. But for the
ordinary people, it will be no problem for
them.
/// END ACT ///
The refugee camps themselves can be dangerous at
times. Some aid workers and journalists have been
assaulted. Others have been forced to leave camps
by mobs of angry refugees. The head of the U-N-H-
C-R in West Timor, Craig Sanders, says tension
frequently arises over the question of whether or
not refugees should return to East Timor.
/// SANDERS ACT ///
We had a repatriation a couple of hours ago
that was disrupted and that almost turned
very violent on us. This was disrupted by
people who did not want others to leave.
The motivations for this is more difficult
to ascertain. They are at times perhaps
politically motivated but often -- deep
down -- these are questions that are being
resolved and in some cases fought out in
front of our eyes, fought out between
family members.
/// END ACT ///
One person who is certain that militia leaders
still pose a threat is the American Ambassador to
Indonesia and East Timor, Robert Gelbard, who
places the blame for the continuing refugee
crisis and the insecurity along the border on the
Indonesian military.
/// GELBARD ACT ///
What the Indonesian military needs to do is
get to the heart of the problem. And the
heart of the problem is the leadership of
the militias. These people need to be
removed physically from the island of Timor
and taken by the Indonesian government to
other parts of the country. As long as
they are allowed to roam freely through
West Timor, to organize their activities,
to find ways to arm people, this kind of
problem is going to continue.
/// END ACT ///
But Indonesia's Minister of Defense Juwono
Sudarsono says the military -- or T-N-I -- is not
assisting the militias.
/// SUDARSONO ACT (English) ///
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 done with the complicity of or
abetted by the TNI.
/// END ACT ///
Another issue may soon be taking center stage.
The Indonesian government cut all financial
assistance to the refugee camps in West Timor at
the end of March -- leaving their welfare up to
the international community.
But the government has extended the deadline for
the refugees to leave the camps or begin the
process of becoming Indonesian citizens -- and
apply for resettlement in other parts of the
country. While the United Nations says it is
disappointed the refugee crisis is not closer to
being resolved, for the refugees in West Timor,
that means more time to consider whether to stay
or go home. (Signed)
NEB/PN/FC/KL
07-Apr-2000 09:09 AM EDT (07-Apr-2000 1309 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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