Police step up security on East Timor border
KUPANG, East Nusa Tenggara (JP): Police have stepped up security patrols along East Nusa Tenggara's border with East Timor in anticipation of problems resulting from the continuing influx of refugees fleeing turmoil in the neighboring province.
East Nusa Tenggara Police chief Col. Jusuf Sudrajat said on Thursday that police operating along the border confiscated at least four cars belonging to the United Nations Mission in East Timor (UNAMET). The drivers lacked the legal documents for the vehicles.
Jusuf said he was concerned by the increasing number of armed refugees because their presence could provoke conflicts and violence.
"We have not decided to launch an operation to disarm them yet. We are only making appeals. But I have asked the refugees to surrender their arms," Jusuf told The Jakarta Post.
Chief of the Udayana Military Command overseeing Nusa Tenggara and Bali Maj. Gen. Adam Damiri pledged earlier to get tough with East Timorese proindependence militia members found in possession of arms.
Jusuf said the number of refugees had reached 160,000 as of Thursday, with predictions that people fleeing ravaged East Timor would continue to flow into the western part of Timor Island. Belu regency, which borders East Timor, has accommodated at least 83,000 refugees.
Separately, East Nusa Tenggara Governor Pieter Alexander Tallo said the government must be cautious in handling the displaced people, especially concerning the local population. He said government treatment of the refugees could cause jealousy among locals if they felt their own concerns were being ignored.
"The government must give equal attention to both refugees and local people," he said.
Minister of Health Farid A. Moeloek promised to send a huge shipment of medical supplies worth Rp 12 billion and a team of doctors to the province in the next few days. He also appealed for humanitarian aid from the international community.
The minister regretted the decision of Merpati Airlines which charged Rp 900,000 on Thursday to transport medical supplies, donated by the Association of Medical Doctors of Asia (AMDA), from Ngurah Rai Airport in Bali to El Tari Airport here.
"I will seek better coordination with related ministries," Farid said.
Maluku province, which is beset by its own problem of refugees following prolonged sectarian strife, is facing a new problem resulting from the East Timor crisis. Antara reported that at least 6,000 refugees have flocked to Terselatan Island in Southeast Maluku regency.
Local authorities are only able to provide 1.5 tons of rice for the refugees, the official news agency reported on Thursday.
Meanwhile, 14,000 refugees from Manatuto regency, 66 kilometers east of Dili, were stranded on border of Belu regency because the government was unable to provide transportation for them.
East Timor Police chief Timbul Silaen said thousands of refugees in Viqueque, Lautem and Ermera were awaiting for transportation. He recommended the provision of sea transportation because land transportation was no longer safe.
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) on delivered on Thursday its first consignment of some 300 kilograms of medical supplies and powdered milk to Dili on an Indonesian Air Force plane, ICRC spokeswoman Sri Wahyu Endah said. A larger cargo will arrive on Friday, she added.
The ICRC stockpiled enough food and emergency shelters to support 50,000 people for two weeks, but witnesses said on Thursday that the supplies were completely looted. (27/yac/prb)