Disease, malnutrition claim lives of 100 East Timor refugees
Disease, malnutrition claim lives of 100 East Timor refugees
DILI, East Timor (JP): At least 100 displaced people in
Faulara hamlet, some 50 kilometers west of here, have died of
various contagious diseases and malnutrition since January, a
United Nations mission official said on Wednesday.
Yasuhiro Ueki, spokesman for the UN Mission in East Timor
(UNAMET), told a media conference here that the finding was
reported by the UN High Commission for Refugees mission who last
week visited the area, where 3,600 people are taking shelter.
He said malaria and tuberculosis were among the diseases
attributable to the fatalities.
A joint team involving UNAMET, UNHCR, the UN Emergency Fund,
the International Commission for the Red Cross and the Indonesian
government, had planned to undertake a humanitarian mission to
the refugee centers in the village next week, Ueki said.
Internally displaced people have become an outstanding concern
for the UN other than security problems in the run-up to the
popular consultation, which is scheduled for late August.
Thousands of people fled their homes in wake of the violence
which flared up following the government's decision in January to
let go of East Timor if people in the former Portuguese colony
rejected its offer of wide-ranging autonomy.
Ueki said the joint team were taking steps to move thousands
of refugees back to their homes, in order to allow them to
register for the direct ballot. Some 2,200 refugees in Faulara
are eligible to vote but none of them have signed up for the
vote.
He said of the 4,000 more displaced people sheltering here,
1,400 of them were returned to their homes in Bobonaro, 140
kilometers west of here, on Wednesday.
The refugees bound for Bobonaro will make a stopover in
Maliana for two or three days to wait until the security
condition enables them to enter their villages, Jaime, a former
village head in Bobonaro, said.
Carried by open trucks and guarded by police, some 550
refugees from Same, 140 kilometers south of here, also left for
home. Displaced people from Ainaro and Covalima, totaling around
800, are expected to be resettled on Saturday.
Ueki said UNAMET officials and its Indonesian government task
force for popular consultation counterparts met on Tuesday to
discuss a plan to move 6,000 refugees in Atambua, East Nusa
Tenggara, to their homes.
Separately, from Kupang, East Nusa Tenggara, Antara quoted
Governor Piet Tallo as saying that a total of 1,091 teachers
fleeing violence in East Timor were now being sheltered in his
province.
"Maybe we can arrange to have them serve here instead," Piet
said.
Of the group, 514 are elementary school teachers and 577 are
junior and senior high school teachers.
In addition, dozens of university students were transferred to
colleges in Kupang, the news agency said.
Security
Meanwhile, a poll monitoring body described pervasive fear of
violence among residents, concluding that security was still too
poor for the popular consultation to take place.
Coordinator of the Independent Committee for Direct Ballot
Monitoring (Kiper) Yeni Rosa Damayanti cited rampant
intimidation, particularly in the western part of the province.
This, she said, posed a threat to the principle of a fair and
free ballot.
"Although voter registration in general ran smoothly so
far...we particularly note that the process went on in the
absence of freedom from fear, which is actually the most
important requirement for a free and fair ballot," Yeni said.
Citing an example, Yeni said that people in villages in
Covalima, Ainaro, Bobonaro, Liquica and Ermera had been forced to
hoist the republic's red and white flags everyday.
"(This) is a violation against the freedom of expression,
which becomes the objective of the coming direct vote," Yeni
said.
It was the first report published by the domestic observers
since they start working since the beginning of voter
registration on July 16. The monitoring involved 758 volunteers
covering 137 out of 195 registration centers across the province.
Half of an estimated 400,000 eligible voters had signed up for
the direct ballot.
Yeni said the poll watchdog had found the violations committed
by government officials, military personnel and prointegration
militias.
"We basically agree that the UN postpone the ballot as long as
there is a clear deadline for the TNI (Indonesian Military) to
settle the security matter. There must be clear sanctions also if
the deadline is disobeyed," she said. (33/amd/swe)