21 December - Security in the camps in West Timor is improving and UN staff are now able to move
around those controlled by anti-independence militia unescorted, the United Nations High Commissioner for
Refugees (UNHCR) said in a statement in Geneva today.
UNHCR is continuing to negotiate with the Indonesian authorities to reinforce security in the camps,
emphasizing the need for a generally better environment and not just bodyguards for aid workers, the
statement added.
The agency says its staff have been able to distribute leaflets advising on return and open information
centres in "many of the more notorious militia-run camps" in West Timor. However, the agency says that in
an incident on Sunday some of its staff were prevented from showing an information video in Tuapukan
camp by an unarmed group who also chased away people gathering to watch it.
UNHCR said that the repatriation operation will be suspended for four days over the Christmas holidays,
when traditional Masses will be celebrated in East and West Timor, and again for three days over New
Year. Staff were also making arrangements for a "significant number" of people who were not expected to
return to East Timor from the west until March, after the rainy season, as well as for refugees still
undecided about returning. Total returns to East Timor now approach 120,000, UNHCR says.
