The New York Times

Tuesday, October 5, 1999

U.N. to Begin Taking Refugees Home to East Timor This

By BARBARA CROSSETTE

UNITED NATIONS -- East Timorese who fled into West Timor or were forced there by pro-Indonesian militias last month will begin returning this week under United Nations protection, the High Commissioner for Refugees said Monday.

The United Nations and Indonesia estimate that as many as 250,000 displaced East Timorese may be in West Timor, which shares an island with East Timor. Officials say they believe that many of the displaced people -- those who supported the overwhelming vote on Aug. 30 for independence -- will want to go home as soon as possible.

The refugee agency hopes to start charter flights on Wednesday, since Indonesia decided over the weekend to allow the United Nations to return refugees and to provide aid to them in West Timor until they leave. Monday the United Nations landed 17,000 tons of emergency supplies in Kupang, the West Timorese capital.

About 100 people thought to be among the most vulnerable refugees are likely to be the first group to return to East Timor, agency officials said in Geneva.

All returning refugees will get a small bundle of necessities for restarting life in a homeland largely devastated by the violent militias and departing Indonesian troops.

Each will receive a blanket, soap, a jerrycan for water or fuel and a bag of rice. Each family also will be given a blue plastic tarpaulin for shelter, since a large percentage of the homes in East Timor are in ruins.

Several hundred thousand other East Timorese who were forced out of their homes are scattered in the hills within the territory, with most still out of the reach of relief assistance.

But the fate of the East Timorese grouped in camps in West Timor has been of particular concern to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and to American officials because those refugees were open to intimidation and abuse by militias.

Moving them out of harm's way is the first of several important priorities, said Richard C. Holbrooke, the chief United States representative at the United Nations.

"Right now, with East Timor in the hands of the multinational force, we have got to get the refugees out of this terribly dangerous situation in West Timor as quickly as possible," he said in an interview Monday.

At the same time, he added, the new Indonesian national assembly in Jakarta must abide by the departing Government's pledge to ratify East Timor's vote for independence.

"If that doesn't happen rapidly," Holbrooke said, "we could get caught in a real traffic jam."

He said the United Nations cannot take over administration of the territory, install a traditional peacekeeping force and appoint a civilian administrator to lead East Timor to elections until Indonesia has formally severed ties.

Monday, Secretary General Kofi Annan sent proposals to the Security Council for a United Nations force of 8,900 troops, 1,650 police officers and an unspecified number of civilians to run East Timor until an East Timorese government can take over the new nation. The cost in money and personnel is expected to be high in a country that has been largely destroyed. It will be paid by assessing United Nations members -- including the United States, where Congress has been demanding increasing oversight of those bills.

The international force now in Timor, led by Australia and Thailand, is an unbudgeted stopgap measure whose costs will have to be born by voluntary contributions.

Japan announced Monday that it would give $100 million to the trust fund set up to pay for the military force. The only other contribution to date has been $5 million from Portugal, the former colonial power in East Timor.

In East Timor Monday, representatives of the United Nations refugee agency began setting up transit centers to receive returning refugees and stockpiling food and other supplies for the general population.

On Tuesday the United Nations, the International Committee of the Red Cross and various private organizations will begin distributing 50-pound bags of rice to residents in Dili, the East Timorese capital.

Health clinics and hospitals are beginning to function in Dili, the capital, and Baucau, East Timor's second-largest town, the United Nations said Monday.

The hospital in Dili, built as a showpiece by the Indonesians to demonstrate their efforts to develop East Timor during 24 years of occupation, has reopened under the management of the International Committee of the Red Cross. Other health centers are operated by Unicef and private groups, officials said.