Subject: Appeals for UN mandate to be extended to
West Timor
Date: Thu, 16 Sep 1999 08:08:52 EDTAppeals for UN mandate to be extended to West Timor
JAKARTA, Sept 16 (AFP) - A community leader has appealed for the mandate of the
multinational force for East Timor to be extended to cover Indonesian West Timor, warning
the region faces the same fate as the devastated East.
"It is essential that the UN mandate be extended to all of Timor," the
source, who pleaded not to be identified, said in a letter, a copy of which was obtained
by AFP.
He cited fears that the flood of "disappointed, undisciplined and humiliated"
militias flowing into the western half of the island with the refugees from the East will
lead to "a new reign of terror".
The three-page letter, dated September 15, carried a request that it be forwarded to
United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan.
"As a result of recent developments, it has become essential that the
international community foresee the humanitarian problem of the whole island of Timor and
not just East Timor alone," the letter said.
"To prevent further massive slaughter of innocent civilians, the widespread
destruction of property, the looting of possessions and the permanent dissolution of East
Timorese familes, it is essential that the mandate be extended," he added.
The call came as the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) aired
concerns that the aid it wants to send to the 150,000 East Timorese refugees who have
flooded into West Timor could end up in the hands of the militias.
"We are hearing credible reports that the militia are controlling the camps in
West Timor," UNHCR spokesman Fernando del Mundo told AFP here.
"We don't want the same thing that happened in Goma when the UNHCR was criticized
for 'feeding the butchers'," Del Mundo said, refering to the Hutu-controlled camps in
Goma during the 1994-96 Rwanda crisis.
He cited reports from the West Timorese border town of Atambua, which said the refugees
were living in "fear and insecurity" terrorized by the militia.
Separate reports from journalists and the church have said that the pro-Indonesian
militias, who went on an orgy of killing in East Timor after it voted for independence on
August 30, have started regrouping in the west.
Del Mundo said the UNHCR wanted to conduct a proper assessment of conditions in the
West Timor camps before making a decision on the aid, but to do that it needed firm
security guarantees from the Indonesian government.
The UNHCR's first attempt to check on the conditions the refugees were living in was
thwarted last week when the delegation was stoned at a camp in the city of Kupang, and
their vehicle burned.
Detailing the problems West Timor was already facing as the refugees pour in from the
East -- many of them reportedly deported by force by military ship and plane -- the source
said there was an urgent need for tents, water storage tanks and food.
Calling the conditions in the camps "appalling", the letter said the refugees
were living "in fear and insecurity as armed militia roam the area, terrorizing them
and the local population while seeking out and removing certain individuals."
What happened to those taken away, it said, was unknown.
One of the last pleas in the letter was for aid agencies to supply money for coffins
"to avoid adding shame to the grief" of those unable to afford a proper burial
for their murdered relatives.
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