10 November -- The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has agreed to help repatriate a group of demobilized East Timorese soldiers from West Timor, marking the agency's first activity in the area since the killing of three of its staff in a border town last September.
The decision was made yesterday evening in Denpasar, Indonesia, at a meeting of representatives of the Indonesian Army, the UN Transitional Administration in East Timor (UNTAET) and the International Organization for Migration (IOM). The group of 450 refugees, which includes Indonesian Army recruits and 65 of their family members, will be picked up by an IOM ship after a UNHCR team has ascertained that the repatriation is voluntary.
"UNHCR's activities in Kupang will be limited to the few days necessary to complete this operation, as we are still subject to stringent UN security restrictions declared following the murder of our three staff members in Atambua," agency spokesman Kris Janowski told the press today in Geneva.
He said the repatriation effort will take place on November 16 following a visit to West Timor by a delegation from the UN Security Council, which is scheduled to arrive in Dili tomorrow. The seven-member Council delegation, which left New York yesterday, will be reviewing the work of UNTAET and assessing Indonesia's progress in disarming and disbanding militia groups in West Timor.
According to UNHCR, of the 2,800 East Timorese soldiers who fled East Timor last year along with their families, 800 demobilized recruits and family members have since returned home. The agency has also held discussions with the Indonesian Army about the repatriation of the remaining recruits and relatives who have asked to be repatriated. East Timorese leaders encourage the group to return.
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