Urgent action needed to solve refugee problem in
West Timor: Security Council
6 December -- Following a recent visit to Timor island and Indonesia by a Security Council delegation, the Council today encouraged Jakarta to take urgent action to resolve the problem of the East Timorese refugees in West Timor.
The call came in a statement read in an open meeting by Council President Sergey V. Lavrov of the Russian Federation, which holds the Council's rotating presidency for the month of December. Endorsing the recommendations of the group that visited the region last month, the Council noted the important role played by the United Nations Transitional Administration in East Timor (UNTAET) and stressed that a strong international presence would be required in the territory after independence.
While acknowledging the efforts of the Government of Indonesia so far, the Council emphasized that a number of further steps must be taken to disarm the militia groups, separate militia leaders from the refugees in the camps and prosecute those responsible for criminal acts.
The Council also encouraged Jakarta to take steps that would allow international relief agencies to return to West Timor, which would in turn require that the security of their staff be guaranteed.
The statement also urged the Government of Indonesia, UNTAET and the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to work together to develop an information strategy that would allow the refugees to make an informed decision about their future. Another step that Indonesia needed to take was the carrying out of "a credible, apolitical and internationally observed registration of the refugees," the statement said.
On the subject of justice in East Timor, the Council underlined the need for measures to address shortcomings in the implementation of judicial processes. It also stressed the need to bring to justice those responsible for violent attacks in East and West Timor, including the murders of three humanitarian workers and two UN peacekeepers.
"[The Security Council] regrets that those responsible for the murder of the peacekeepers have not been arrested, and calls for action in this regard and for an early start to the trials of those accused of killing the humanitarian workers," the statement said.
Highlighting the importance of the bilateral relationship between UNTAET and Jakarta, the Council underlined the need to resolve the outstanding issues of payment of pensions to former civil servants and the proposed transit arrangements between the East Timorese enclave of Oecussi, in West Timor, and the rest of East Timor.
