Indonesia must beef up security in West Timor camps, UN says

Indonesia must beef up security in West Timor camps, UN says

DILI (AFP): Indonesia must beef up its security forces in West
Timor to help resolve the problem of pro-Jakarta militia
intimidating East Timorese refugees, the head of the UN mission
said on Thursday before flying to Jakarta for talks.

"We are encouraged by the recognition of the need to inject
new forces into West Timor," Sergio Vieira de Mello told
journalists.

"No doubt, the numerical weakness of the TNI (Indonesian armed
forces) and Polri (police) in West Timor is part of the problem."

The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) estimates that
more than 110,000 East Timorese remain in Indonesian West Timor.

De Mello last met on Aug. 23 with Indonesian officials, who
have proposed the refugees be given a free choice about whether
to stay in Indonesia or return to East Timor.

This could not happen unless "gangs of former militia, thugs,
call them as you wish" are removed from the camps," de Mello
said.

"As part of the plan... they would be deploying sufficient TNI
and police forces in NTT to enable this separation to finally
occur," he said, referring to the Indonesian province of Nusa
Tenggara Timur, to which West Timor belongs.

The UNHCR says more than 168,000 people have returned to East
Timor since they were forcibly expelled in an Indonesian-backed
terror campaign that followed last year's Aug. 30 vote in which
East Timorese opted for independence.

Over the last 11 months aid agencies have repeatedly faced
intimidation and violence from militias who remain in the West
Timor refugee camps. The UNHCR has suspended operations in the
camps since Aug. 22 when its members were attacked.

Joseph Yeo, a UNHCR official in Dili, told AFP on Thursday
that Indonesian security forces were not doing enough to stop
attacks on aid workers in West Timor.

But Yeo contended that the number of security personnel was
not the issue. "It's the amount of effort they put in," he said.

The UNHCR's discussions with the Indonesian military could
soon lead to a resumption of work in the West Timor camps, Yeo
added.

"We were thinking that we could re-start our operations after
the celebrations of the 30th. It could be next week," he said.

Although the recent security crisis brought a halt to the
organized return of refugees by land, Yeo said some East Timorese
have managed to return on their own.

"We have had some spontaneous returns to (the border town of)
Suai the last few days," he said.

A ship is due to arrive in Dili on Saturday with an additional
160 refugees from Kupang in West Timor, Yeo said.

In Jakarta, UN officials said de Mello would meet Indonesian
President Abdurrahman Wahid on Friday morning, and coordinating
minister for security and politics, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono
later in the day.