UNITED NATIONS TRANSITIONAL ADMINISTRATION IN EAST TIMOR UNTAET Daily Briefing

Dili, 21 March 2000

FALSE MEDIA REPORTS IN JAKARTA

Contrary to recent media reports in Jakarta, there has been no mass RETURN movement from East Timor to West Timor.

Sunday, the Jakarta Post reported that 10.000 East Timorese had returned to West Timor in the last month because of food shortages and economic woes in East Timor.

UNHCR, the Government of West Timor, and the Head of UNTAET?s Liaison Office in Kupang, West Timor, said today that there is no evidence at all of any large movement of East Timorese returning to the camps of West Timor. There is no truth in the report that 10.000 people returned to West Timor during the last 30 days.

The Government of West Timor and UNHCR are in the process of doing a census in the camps to have a more precise idea of how many people are still in the camps.

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