UN agency resumes work in West Timor

UN agency resumes work in West Timor

GENEVA (Agencies): The United Nations High Commission for Refugees has resumed operations in West Timor after a six-day suspension that followed an attack on three of its workers by militia members.

The agency took its decision after Indonesian officials promised a thorough investigation and said two of the men involved in last week's attack had been arrested and will be charged in court.

"We were assured that measures will be taken to ensure the safety and security of aid workers in West Timor," spokesman Kris Janowski said adding that "UNHCR is satisfied with the way the Indonesian authorities have dealt with this regrettable incident".

But "a just and lasting solution to the refugee problem" depends on troublemakers being separated from other refugees, and law and order being imposed in West Timor's sprawling refugee camps, he added.

Three UNHCR workers were badly injured in the attack with machetes, clubs and stones last week.

UNHCR suspended its operations, complaining that the Indonesian military was doing nothing to stop militia gangs from staging attacks or from setting up roadblocks to prevent refugees returning from Indonesian West Timor to their homes in East Timor.

The Geneva-based agency is providing supplies to an estimated 125,000 East Timorese who remain in West Timor refugee camps.

Nearly 170,000 have gone home since last year.