RI monitors safety of citizens in E. Timor

RI monitors safety of citizens in E. Timor

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Indonesia has taken steps to ensure the safety of some 500 of
its citizens who live in East Timor, as unrest spread through the
capital city of Dili on Wednesday.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on Wednesday that at
least 35 Indonesians have contacted the Indonesian Interests
Representative Office in Dili, asking that they be picked up and
given temporary shelter there until the situation was deemed
safe.

"We expect the number to increase in proportion to the gravity
of the situation in Dili," the Ministry said in a statement.

"The Indonesian Interests Representative Office will continue
to actively monitor the safety of Indonesian citizens in Dili. It
is believed that around 500 Indonesians reside in East Timor."

The representative office reported that the unrest was not
targeted at any specific group.

Indonesians who visited East Timor recently said they did not
detect any significant enmity among the East Timorese population
against Indonesia, which ruled the territory ruthlessly for 24
years until East Timor claimed independence in 1999.

The government would continue to monitor the situation and
stay in contact with the representative office and the Jakarta
representative office of the United Nations Mission of Support in
East Timor (UNMISET), the ministry said.