UN returns 410 refugees in 1st major repatriation

UN returns 410 refugees in 1st major repatriation

JAKARTA (Agencies): The International Organization for
Migration (IOM) on Tuesday helped ship 410 East Timorese home
from West Timor in the first major repatriation it has carried
out since three United Nations workers were killed in Atambua
early in September.

The refugees boarded the IOM-chartered ship the Patricia Anne
Hotung in Kupang Tuesday morning in a joint operation involving
the Indonesian Military (TNI), UN High Commissioner for Refugee
(UNHCR) and the UN Transitional Administration in East Timor
(UNTAET).

But UNHRC said the return of the former Indonesian civil
servants and soldiers and their families did not herald a full-
scale return by aid workers, who left Indonesian West Timor after
the Sept. 6 killings in the border town of Atambua.

"This is a one-off operation by UNHCR," spokesman Kris
Janowski said as quoted by AP. "It's not a return to work in West
Timor, since that return is still very, very questionable for
security reasons."

A return hinges on the conclusions of a UN Security Council
delegation that visited West Timor last week to assess the
security situation and Indonesian efforts to disarm militias,
Janowski said.

UNHCR estimates that 100,000 East Timorese refugees are still
living in camps in West Timor.

Many of them have been prevented from returning home by the
same militias that laid waste to much of East Timor last year
after its people overwhelmingly voted for independence in a UN-
sponsored ballot.

Another 170,000 East Timorese have returned to their
territory, which is now under UN administration, since October
last year.

More than 2,000 East Timorese soldiers and police were among
those who fled west. A first group of 800 demobilized soldiers
and their families returned to East Timor earlier this year.

The latest group of refugees left West Timor's provincial
capital, Kupang, Tuesday and was scheduled to arrive in the
eastern port of Com on Wednesday.

Negotiation

Negotiations with the Indonesian authorities for the return of
the refugees to East Timor began in June, but were interrupted in
September after militiamen killed three UN aid workers in West
Timor.

Jake Morland from the UNHCR said the decision to go ahead with
the repatriation of the former paramilitaries and their families
was made last week after visit to West Timor by a UN Security
Council mission.

At the end of their 22-hour journey, the refugees will undergo
health checks and be taken back to their homes, mainly in the
eastern tip of Timor island.

Morland said their communities had been informed of their
arrival and were ready to accept them back.

"We want them to get back to their home straight away. This is
not a security concern," said Morland.