| Subject: Armed
militia stop U.N. access to W Timor camps on Fri.
Armed militia stop U.N. access to West
Timor camps
By Joanne Collins
KUPANG, Indonesia, Dec 10 (Reuters) -
Pro-Jakarta militiamen armed with pistols and clubs threatened U.N. aid
officials in Indonesian West Timor on Friday, preventing them from
entering camps for East Timorese refugees.
``This is the fifth time we have been
unsuccessful in extracting refugees from the camps here,'' said Aida
Qara'een of the U.N. refugee agency UNHCR in the West Timor capital of
Kupang.
Four aid workers, escorted by unarmed
Indonesian police, were confronted by gangs of armed militiamen in two
camps on the outskirts of Kupang.
One of the camps was a barracks for the
Indonesian military, or TNI, where East Timorese TNI members and
militiamen and their families are staying.
``The militia have been bearing arms on
three occasions, even though the military tell us they have disarmed
them,'' Qara'een said.
The UNHCR estimates 28,000 East Timorese
refugees remain in three camps on the fringes of Kupang.
Because of the strong militia presence,
the U.N. and non-governmental organisations only gained access to the
camps for the first time two weeks ago, and have so far been largely
foiled in efforts to repatriate refugees.
``We've had hardly any movement out of
the camps, only 15 here or 20 there,'' said Yusuf Hassan, head of the
UNHCR's Kupang operations.
HEALTH PROBLEMS WORSENING
Hassan said serious health problems had
emerged in the camps due to a lack of medical care and had been compounded
by the onset of the rainy season.
He said conditions at Tua Pukan camp, 28
km (17 miles) from Kupang -- where 161 people have died since late
September -- were the worst in West Timor.
``When we finally got access to the camps
we discovered a one-year-old with diarrhoea and fever and that's when we
realised medical problems were there and...an emergency officer from the
WHO (World Health Organisation) was sent in from Jakarta to investigate,''
he said.
A WHO source in Kupang said the mortality
rate had halved since mobile health teams began working in the camps a
week ago.
``We have had local health department
teams working in the camps and in fact, there have been no deaths reported
in the last three days. Prior to that, the death rate was around four per
day, then it dropped to around two per day,'' he said.
Ketut Indra Jaya, a doctor working in the
camps with a German non governmental organisation, said diarrhoea, malaria
and acute respiratory infections were the main causes of death, but
cholera was also a danger.
``Most of the camp conditions are the
same -- very bad sanitation, untreated water, very few latrines -- and
with the wet season it will get worse,'' he said.
``We have seen cases of cholera in
Atambua, not Kupang, but there is a possibility we could see some cases.''
The United Nations said impeded access
was not the only problem it faced. Hassan said the militias were spreading
propaganda in the camps to discourage people from returning home.
``We started an information campaign in
mid-November, circulating leaflets...and doing radio broadcasts about what
the U.N. was doing and an update on East Timor about how hospitals and
schools were re-opening,'' he said.
``There is so much misinformation in the
camps, stories about how INTERFET (the International Force for East Timor)
is separating men and women and that returnees are getting killed.''
An estimated 250,000 East Timorese fled
or were forcibly moved to West Timor in September amid a campaign of
violence mounted by the militias and Indonesian military following East
Timor's overwhelming vote for independence.
Back
to December Menu
World Leaders Contact List
Human Rights Violations in East Timor
Main Postings Menu
Note: For those who would like to fax "the
powers that be" - CallCenter V3.5.8, is a Native 32-bit Voice Telephony software
application integrated with fax and data communications... and it's free of charge!
Download from http://www.v3inc.com/ |
