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.