UN pulls foreign staff out of West Timor border town<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (Agencies): Two UN agencies pulled most of their
\nforeign staff out of the East Nusa Tenggara border town of
\nAtambua on Saturday, a day after pro-Jakarta militia encircled
\nand threatened their offices, UN officials said.<\/p>\n
The officials, speaking from the East Nusa Tenggara capital of
\nKupang, said the police and the military were negotiating with
\nthe militia in Atambua, and that no incident was reported on
\nSaturday.<\/p>\n
\"At 5:30 this morning our sole expatriate staffer started for
\nKupang. We advised him to join the UNHCR (United Nations High
\nCommissioner for Refugees) cars coming down (to Kupang),\"
\nInternational Organization for Migration (IOM) representative
\nJose Remigio told AFP by phone.<\/p>\n
The UNHCR office in Kupang confirmed most of its foreign staff
\nhad left Atambua, but declined to call it an evacuation.<\/p>\n
\"I would say we redeployed the staff ... this was after some
\nthreatened demonstration by the Aitarak\" militia, Adelmo Risi, a
\nUNHCR representative, said.<\/p>\n
\"They are scheduled to be here (Kupang) today and tomorrow.
\nWhen there are security problems, it is better to prevent them.\"<\/p>\n
He declined to disclose the number of staff relocated.<\/p>\n
Neither Risi nor Remigio gave details of the events at their
\noffices in Atambua on Friday.<\/p>\n
UNHCR spokesman Ron Redmond said in Geneva the militia
\n\"taunted staff members and threatened to attack the premises.<\/p>\n
\"Indonesian soldiers were called and the situation was brought
\nunder control after several tense hours\".<\/p>\n
IOM spokesman Jean-Philippe Chauzy said in Geneva on Friday
\ntheir Atambua office was \"under siege today by at least 50
\nmachete-wielding Aitarak militia.<\/p>\n
\"Six staff remained trapped inside the building for several
\nhours before the Indonesian Army intervened to disperse the
\ncrowd\".<\/p>\n
Aitarak was involved in attacks in East Timor last year.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, the head of the U.N. peacekeeping mission in East
\nTimor has demanded that Indonesia arrest and disarm militia
\nleaders responsible for an attack in which a Nepalese soldier was
\nkilled and four others wounded.<\/p>\n
Speaking to reporters late on Friday after returning from the
\nwestern border area, Sergio Vieira de Mello told reporters the
\nIndonesian government needed to do more than offer vague
\nstatements to close down the refugee camps.<\/p>\n
\"Closing down the camps is a fairly vague concept. Once you
\nclose them down, what do you do with the refugees? Do you throw
\nthem into the sea? Do you force them across the border?\"<\/p>\n
Jakarta is under mounting international pressure to curb the
\nprointegration gangs who are believed to operate from the year-
\nold refugee camps in East Nusa Tenggara.<\/p>\n
On Friday, Indonesian foreign minister Alwi Shihab said his
\ngovernment was drawing up plans to close the refugee camps, which
\nhave been home to 100,000 East Timorese who have lived there
\nsince fleeing their homeland last year.<\/p>\n
Up to a quarter of East Timor's 800,000 population were forced
\nout of the impoverished territory in the violent aftermath of a
\nballot on self-determination.<\/p>\n
\"Closing the camps I don't think is a solution. The solution
\nis what we've been requesting from the Indonesian government
\nsince October last year, which is to identify -- which is not
\ndifficult -- disarm and detain those extremist elements who are
\noperating from within the camps,\" de Mello said.<\/p>\n
\"That's what needs to be done and as long as that doesn't
\nhappen, then I'm afraid refugees will not come back and our
\npeople will continue to die.\"<\/p>\n
De Mello heads the United Nations Transitional Administration
\nin East Timor (UNTAET), which includes an 8,000-strong
\npeacekeeping force drawn from 32 countries of which Australia is
\nthe biggest contributor.<\/p>\n
Two UN soldiers have been killed in as many weeks after
\nclashes with pro-Indonesia militiamen, and senior UN military
\ncommanders are warning of an upsurge of violence this month.<\/p>\n
The focus is on two anniversaries -- Indonesia's independence
\nday on Aug. 17 and on Aug. 30 which will mark one year since the
\nmajority of East Timorese voted to quit Jakarta rule.<\/p>",
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