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.