Ex-soldiers return to East Timor in largest repatriation to date: UNHCR
4 April -- More than 60 former members of the Indonesian army returned to their home community in East Timor over the weekend, marking the largest such movement so far in the repatriation process, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said today.
In a briefing with the press in Geneva, UNHCR spokesman Kris Janowski said the former soldiers and their families - a total of 500 people - had left camps in Kupang, an area controlled by pro-integration militia in West Timor, one month ago. Their final destination was the East Timorese town of Aileu, a cantonment site for the pro independence Armed Forces for the Liberation of East Timor, or Falentil.
To guarantee the group's safety in Aileu, the UN Transitional Administration in East Timor (UNTAET) and the international police force made security arrangements with Falentil and an umbrella organization for East Timorese political groups, the National Council of Timorese Resistance (CNRT), Mr. Janowski said.
On Saturday, 35 former combatants returned to East Timor, followed by 149 yesterday. Today, about 230 families of the soldiers are returning to Aileu, and the rest will go back on Thursday, the spokesman said.
