06 March 2001 -- The United Nations Transitional Administration in East Timor (UNTAET) today reported that more than 600 East Timorese refugees from West Timor had arrived safely in Dili by boat as part of a new repatriation programme.
In a joint operation involving UNTAET, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the International Organization for Migration (IOM), the refugees were repatriated primarily from Tuapukan, Noelbaki and Naibonnat refugee camps in West Timor, Indonesia.
The first group included 42 former "Milsas" -- East Timorese civilians previously working for the Indonesian military -- in addition to their extended families of more than 200 people, marking the second time former Milsas have returned to East Timor since November 2000, UNTAET said.
The returnees are currently being taken back to their home village.
In other news, UN troops were involved in a clash with two suspected militia members on the evening of 4 March approximately two kilometres north-west of Memo near the border with Indonesian West Timor, according to UNTAET's peacekeeping force. The engagement took place when Australian UN soldiers sighted two suspected militiamen across the river which marks the border.
"One suspected militia was seen to be observing the peacekeepers and when he attempted to open fire at them with his rifle, a peacekeeper responded by firing two rounds in self-defence, possibly wounding the suspected militia," UNTAET said in a statement issued yesterday in Dili. "Both suspected militiamen withdrew from the scene."
The UN force suffered no casualties.
Lieutenant Colonel John Caligari, the Commander of the Australian battalion, has since informed his Indonesian Army counterpart in West Timor about the incident, and has received assurances that the Indonesian Army would investigate and deploy troops to apprehend the militia involved, UNTAET said.
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