Talks drag as E. Timor refugees languish in camps

Talks drag as E. Timor refugees languish in camps

DILI (Reuters): Indonesia's province of West Timor remains too
dangerous for United Nations staff to resume aid to 100,000 East
Timorese refugees languishing there in camps, UN officials said
on Monday.

Joseph Yeo, an official with the United Nations High
Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Dili, said talks with
Indonesian authorities had so far failed to produce any guarantee
of safety for aid workers.

"I am very sure we will resume activities in West Timor in a
manner of time," he told Reuters. "But it really depends on how
quickly we can get an agreement, because we want an agreement,
not promises."

As East Timor prepares for Wednesday's first anniversary of
its vote for independence from Indonesia, the UNHCR last week
suspended work for East Timorese refugees in West Timor after
machete-wielding pro-Jakarta militia beat up and severely wounded
three of its staff.

More than 100,000 refugees remain in West Timor. A year ago
more than 200,000 people out of a population of 850,000 fled or
were forced out of East Timor to the western part of the island
by army-organized militias.

The militias, who razed East Timor in retaliation for the
independence vote, are afraid to return to East Timor where the
United Nations is now overseeing the transition to independence.

They still maintain a rule of terror over the camps which
Indonesian police and soldiers have failed to stop.

A year after the rampage, in which hundreds died, many
militiamen remain angry at the territory's overwhelming vote to
end more than 23 years of often brutal Indonesian rule.

"They have no rights anymore, because they wanted to be
independent," one militiaman told Reuters Television in one
border camp recently. "That's what they get from wanting to be
free."

The militias are also stepping up their activities in East
Timor, where they have killed two UN peacekeepers in clashes in
recent weeks.

Some militiamen are believed to be Indonesian-trained former
soldiers or paramilitiaries, or possibly even rogue soldiers.

Time magazine quoted East Timorese leader Xanana Gusmao as
urging the United Nations to get more aggressive with the
militias, including striking into West Timor.

"...My opinion as a former guerrilla leader is this: If (the
militias) come from West Timor to fight us in East Timor, then we
should strike back and destroy them inside West Timor," he said
in an interview with Time magazine released on Sunday.
Gusmao was not available for comment on Monday.

The charismatic former guerrilla, jailed for leading the
rebellion against Jakarta, is considered the man most likely to
lead East Timor into independence.

He quit as leader of the main pro-independence group on Sunday
in what was largely viewed as a power play with factions within
the group. Officials later said Gusmao had offered himself for
reelection.

Time quoted Gusmao as saying the militia activities were part
of "a sabotage mission drawn up by someone in Jakarta" and urged
tougher international pressure to force Indonesia to stop the
militias.

The UNHCR has said nearby Indonesian soldiers were called for
help after last week's attack, the worst of more than 100 cases
of harassment and intimidation against aid workers and refugees.

Indonesia has said it will close the camps within six months,
sending the refugees back across the border or resettling them
elsewhere in Indonesia. United Nations officials estimate up to
40 percent of the refugees might want to remain in Indonesia.

The repatriation program had largely ground to a halt because
of insecurity about two weeks before the aid suspension.