UN heightens security in parts of East Timor after shooting incidents
3 March� --The commander of the United Nations peacekeeping force in East Timor today raised the threat level in the west of the territory to "high," in response to armed attacks against UN troops in the last 48 hours.
Lieutenant-General Jaime de los Santos also sent a letter to the commander of the Indonesian forces in West Timor, Major General Kiki Syhanakri, urging him to arrest the perpetrators.
Thursday night, a UN helicopter was shot at several times, but not hit, during a night reconnaissance flight near the border with West Timor. Meanwhile, on the night of 1 March, the UN Transitional Administration in East Timor (UNTAET) reported three "deliberate" incidents of harassing fire directed at or close to peacekeepers' bases or observation posts. There was no damage or casualties to UN troops or property in any of these incidents.
According to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the shootings resulted in lower numbers of refugees returning from Atambua in West Timor to Batugade in East Timor, with a total of 162 returns yesterday and today.
Since the beginning of UNHCR's repatriation programme in October 1999, a total of 150,000 East Timorese refugees have voluntary returned to East Timor.
