UN officials hope E. Timor refugees will return home
UN officials hope E. Timor refugees will return home
DILI, East Timor (Agencies): A senior UN official said on Tuesday he was hopeful thousands of East Timorese refugees still living in the Indonesian province of West Timor will soon return home.
Nagalingam Parameswaran, the UN chief of staff in East Timor, said a three-day tour of four camps last week had been successful in addressing the fears of many about personal safety in East Timor.
The visit, organized by the regional Indonesian military commander, was the first time UN staffers had spoken directly to refugees since last September, when international officials were withdrawn after a pro-Indonesian mob murdered three foreign aid workers.
The delegation, which included representatives from the UN refugee agency UNHCR, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and UN peacekeepers, distributed thousands of posters, brochures and videos describing conditions in East Timor to the refugees.
They also met with the bishops of Kupang and Atambua, and anti-independence leaders, Biro said, describing the trip as "very successful."
"It was a great opportunity," Parameswaran said. "We will continue to pursue initiatives for reconciliation and return."
Following an overwhelming vote for independence from Indonesia in 1999, pro-Jakarta militias forced some 250,000 East Timorese to flee across the border to neighboring West Timor.
The majority have since returned. But humanitarian agencies estimate that at least 50,000 still live in camps throughout the Indonesian province.
Many of those have links with the former Indonesian regime in East Timor or were members of pro-Indonesian militia gangs which rampaged through the territory before and after the independence ballot.
Although refugee leaders have said most people want to be repatriated, many fear they will face reprisals if they go home.
According to Parameswaran, UN staff were well-received during the visit.
He said UN officials believe East Timorese refugees they met during the visit last week were instructed to challenge the results of the 1999 independence ballot.
The charge was contained in a transcript of a press briefing given in the East Timor capital Dili, by the UNTAET chief of staff and delegation leader Parameswaran, which was received by AFP.
Parameswaran said that in each of the camps several refugees challenged the outcome of the ballot, which voted overwhelmingly for East Timor's independence from Indonesia, in what appeared to be a coordinated manner.
"There were...indications that some of the refugees had been instructed to ask questions of a political nature, and question the result of the popular consultation," Parameswaran was quoted as saying.
UN officials in East Timor have repeatedly complained that anti-independence militia, which virtually control the camps, have been spreading misinformation about conditions in East Timor to discourage refugees from returning.
UNTAET spokesman Peter Biro said refugees argued with the delegation. "Their questions seemed to be the same type and there was a feeling they were being orchestrated, that some groups might have sent some people to turn it into something political," he told AFP by phone from Dili.
Estimates of the number of refugees in West Timor range from 50,000 to 100,000. A comprehensive count has never been undertaken.
Parameswaran said that refugees keen to go home were most worried about their security. "The main concern of the refugees who want to return is their personal security, and we were able to assure them that East Timor is stable and safe," the chief of staff said.