UN hopeful that refugees will return to East Timor
UN hopeful that refugees will return to East Timor
DILI, East Timor (Agencies): East Timor's United Nations administrators said Tuesday they were hopeful that an upcoming refugee return would mark the resumption of repatriations from Indonesia despite continuing militia violence.
Nagalingam Parameswaran, the world body's chief of staff in East Timor, said that up to 2,000 refugees who were formerly blocked from leaving by a pro-Jakarta militia group were expected to return home Friday.
UN officials estimate there are around 80,000 East Timorese refugees still living in camps in the Indonesian province of West Timor. They are the remnants of some 250,000 people who were forced to flee East Timor following the province's vote for independence in 1999.
Parameswaran said he was hopeful this return would be the first of many, despite reports of intimidation in a camp at the town of Betun close to East Timor's border on Sunday.
"Some of the militia went in with sharp weapons ... threatening those who wanted to return," he told reporters.
Parameswaran said he had received security assurances from the Indonesian regional military commander, Gen. Willem da Costa.
"I have asked him to ensure the security situation in the camp is fine and the refugees are allowed to proceed," he said.
The returning refugees were held by members of the "Life or Death for Indonesia" paramilitary gang, formed by the Indonesian army in East Timor's central mountainous district prior to the 1999 independence referendum.
Independence leader Xanana Gusmao and local community leaders will be present at the border to welcome back the refugees.
Meanwhile, a senior official of the United Nations refugee agency arrived in Indonesia on Monday for talks aimed at speeding up the return of 80,000 East Timorese refugees still in West Timor, the UNHCR said in Geneva.
The visit of Soren Jessen-Petersen, Assistant High Commissioner for Refugees, follows the UN-run territory's first democratic election, held on Aug. 30.
"The talks are expected to focus on prospects for the return of 80,000 East Timorese refugees still remaining in West Timor," UN High Commissioner for Refugees said in a statement.
Jessen-Petersen was to meet senior government officials in Jakarta before traveling to West Timor and East Timor.
He is the highest-ranking UNHCR official to visit Indonesia since three of the agency's aid workers were killed by an angry mob in the West Timor (East Nusa Tenggara province) town of Atambua on Sept. 6, 2000, which led to a UN-pullout from West Timor, the statement said.