UNHCR urges Indonesia to help stop violence against refugees and aid
workers in West Timor.
4 February - The United Nations refugee agency has urged Indonesia to help put an end to increasing acts of intimidation and brutality against refugees and aid workers in West Timor.
A spokesman for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said today that at least four security incidents had been reported in camps outside the West Timor capital of Kupang last week, including the disruption of repatriation operations and attacks against journalists.
UNHCR spokesman Ron Redmond told a press briefing in Geneva the UN agency was particularly concerned about the fate of two refugees who had been forcibly taken off repatriation buses at Tuapukan, a large camp which hosts 20,000 of the 110,000 refugees in the province. He said UNHCR had urged Indonesia to maintain law and order in the camps.
UNHCR also said there were reports of growing menace against aid workers along the border areas of West Timor, where workers were not allowed inside the camps or were receiving veiled threats.
UNHCR reiterated its "longstanding request" for Indonesian officials to separate militias from refugees, as well as redeploy the active military officials living among the refugee population.
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