28 October -- Some 23,000 people have gone home to East Timor since the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) began the repatriation effort on 8 October, the refugee agency said today.
Of the number, around 16,000 repatriated from West Timor and the rest were flown from Jakarta and Surabaya on the main Java island and Denpasar in Bali. using planes, ships and trucks of UNHCR and On Thursday, 42 refugees flew from Darwin to Dili in the first organized return from Australia. The returnees included a disabled woman and a single mother with seven children. Representatives of UNHCR, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and the Australian Department of Immigration and Multicultural Affairs accompanied the returnees who were among 1,500 Timorese refugees in Australia.
Meanwhile, UNHCR has continued to expand operations in East Timor, setting up warehousing facilities in Suai near the border with West Timor for some 5,500 displaced people who have returned. Plastic sheeting, soap and rice have been stored there. Suai was devastated and local authorities were requesting shelter materials for around 20,000 people expected to return there.
