U.S. urged to persuade UN relief agencies to return to West Timor

U.S. urged to persuade UN relief agencies to return to West Timor

Yemris Fointuna, The Jakarta Post, Kupang, East Nusa Tenggara

Piet A. Tallo, the governor of East Nusa Tenggara province, has
called on the United States to persuade the United Nations to
cancel the emergency status currently imposed by the world body
on the West Timor area.

The emergency status has been in effect since September 2000,
when three international UN staff members working in the area
were killed by former Indonesian militia men. The status means
that the UN, particularly its refugee and humanitarian aid
agencies, cannot have a full-time presence to assist the people
of West Timor, which the government has been unable to do on its
own.

The spokesman for the provincial administration, Umbu Saga
Anakaka, said on Wednesday that the governor's request was made a
day earlier when the governor met with the U.S. Consul General
Philip Antwer in Kupang, the capital of East Nusa Tenggara.

In the meeting, the governor explained to the visiting U.S.
consul that the security situation in West Timor had returned to
normal, so the emergency status was no longer relevant, according
to Umbu.

It encompasses the regencies of Belu, North Central Timor,
South Central Timor and Kupang.

"The emergency status has damaged the economy and tourism,"
Tallo reportedly explained, while detailing the additional
affects of the UN's decision to pull out.

Other, non-UN International relief agencies, which supplied
food and other essentials before the murders have stayed away as
well.

The flow of foreign tourists into West Timor has also dropped
significantly.

Umbu said that the U.S. Consul General had told the governor
that his government would bring attention to the matter.

The three staffers worked for the United Nations High
Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Atambua.