Humanitarian aid reaches Dili by road

Humanitarian aid reaches Dili by road

JAKARTA (JP): A convoy of trucks loaded with humanitarian aid
provided by the United Nations Children's Fund (Unicef) arrived
in refugee camps outside East Timor's capital of Dili on Thursday
from Atambua in East Nusa Tenggara.

Aris Boedihardjo, Unicef communications officer, told The
Jakarta Post the food convoy reached the hills in Dare without
incident.

Thousands of starving people have been sheltering in Dare,
some 15 kilometers south of Dili, since violence first ravaged
the half-island territory earlier this month.

"We got through the border area safely and went on to Dili
this morning without much trouble," Aris said, adding that the
convoy was escorted by Indonesian Military (TNI) troops between
Liquica and Dili.

The aid, the first to be delivered by road, included 1.2 tons
of baby food, medical supplies, tents, blankets and clean water.

"We plan to carry out regular delivery operations by land to
augment humanitarian airdrops conducted by other international
organizations," Aris said.

To help the mission, Unicef has opened offices in Atambua and
Darwin in Australia, according to Aris. The organization's office
in Dili will soon resume activities.

A UN flight carrying thousands of high-protein biscuit packs
to refugees hiding in the hills of East Timor did not make its
drop on Thursday because the pilot was unsure about the
coordinates. UN humanitarian coordinators Abdul Mejid Hussein and
Julien Lefevre described the problem as "a mapping issue".

"The drop wasn't identified exactly and they felt uneasy about
dropping without being sure of the exact site," Lefevre said as
quoted by AFP in Darwin.

Aid officials are facing a race against time to get food and
medical treatment to refugees before the monsoon season begins
next month.

There are 6,000 tons of rice in the UN's Dili warehouse,
enough to feed 500,000 people for one month, according to the UN.

Hussein said secure roads and sea passage were needed quickly
because the onset of the monsoon in October/November would stop
airdrops from continuing.

Meanwhile, some 4,000 East Timor refugees arrived in Wini Port
in East Nusa Tenggara from Liquica. One of the refugees, Domingos
dos Santos, told the Post that many more people were stranded in
Liquica due to a lack of ferries plying between the town and East
Nusa Tenggara.

"People prefer to leave their homeland due to the worsening
security situation," dos Santos said. He added that with the
absence of buses and trucks, sea transportation had become the
only choice by to flee East Timor.

Wini has become the destination of refugees streaming from
Liquica and Oekusi, the capital of the East Timor enclave of
Ambeno.

East Timor refugees who have sought shelter in the neighboring
province of East Nusa Tenggara exceeded 205,000 as of Thursday.

Ministry of Health secretary-general E. Sutarto said that poor
sanitation in refugee camps across the province had become the
government's main concern. He said, however, there had been no
signs of a certain epidemic diseases.

Quoting reports from local administration staff, Sutarto said
medical supplies would be enough for the next seven months. The
drugs were provided by the government under a presidential
instruction program, donations from Japan and Australia, as well
as the provincial budget.

The ministry has also launched a vaccination program for
refugees.

He said the ministry would send 25 reinforcement doctors to
Atambua Hospital, while South Sulawesi and Bali have pledged to
dispatch 11 and 20 doctors respectively to East Nusa Tenggara.

Apart from medical staff and drugs, the ministry has sent 15
ambulances, which also can serve as mobile community health
centers, to East Nusa Tenggara. The mobile health centers will
provide service within 24 hours.

With the wet season approaching, the ministry will step up
measures to prevent the spread of dengue fever. Sutarto said the
province was prone to the disease. (05/06/27)