EAST TIMOR: DILI: SITUATION UPDATE

Описание: (1 Oct 1999) English/Nat

Aid agencies say that some 70-thousand people have returned to Dili from hiding over the last few days.

And as numbers in the East Timorese capital swell, makeshift markets are springing up to supplement the aid shipments which are beginning to arrive.

Meanwhile, the United Nations says it will soon start investigating atrocities committed after the August 30 independence vote.

Refugees returning to Dili are doing what they can to cope with life in their wrecked city.

Dili's central market, once the hub of commerce in the town, was destroyed after the August 30 independence vote in which 80 per cent of East Timorese chose to break from Jakarta.

Now refugees who have come back to find their homes destroyed are gleaning what they can from what remains of the market to provide some shelter in the days ahead.

Makeshift market have sprung up and trade is brisk.

The food Dili's inhabitants can buy in street markets like this one supplements the aid supplies which are beginning to filter into the province.

On Saturday the World Food Programme plans to step up food aid to the territory, distributing
enough food to keep 100-thousand people for a month.

One of Dili's residents outlined what the people of the capital most need.

SOUNDBITE: (English)
"The people are going through starvation and lack of meals and everything. Mainly there's the need for medicine for the children in every part now. The people are really suffering."
SUPER CAPTION: Dili Resident

United Nations peacekeepers searched a prison on Friday with a view to commandeering the buildings for official use.

There is speculation the prison may be used to confine militiamen captured as the International Force, INTERFET fans out across the territory.

The militias are held responsible for the wave of violence which swamped East Timor after the independence vote.

Loyal to the Jakarta government of President B-J Habibie, the militias wreaked havoc in the province after the results the vote became known.

Accusations that they acted in tandem with Indonesian forces to kill and destroy property have been widespread.

The United Nations is taking the first steps towards possible trials of those found guilty of atrocities in the territory since the vote.

United nations spokesman David Wimhurst said that the forthcoming investigations would not be easy for the Indonesians.

SOUNDBITE: (English)
"The first specialists are expected to arrive here in Dili during the course of the coming week. I think this is the first time that individual members of the army will be identified in the context of the investigation which in itself is a significant and not an easy step for the country."
SUPER CAPTION: David Wimhurst, UN Spokesman

As the INTERFET mission approaches the end of its second week in East Timor, the number of troops involved continues to grow.

The latest contingent of Australian soldiers arrived on Friday bringing the total number of soldiers involved to over five thousand.

The force was planned to contain seven-thousand-500 personnel.

As the numbers increase so does the mission's remit.

These Australian troops arrested Falintil soldiers in Dili confiscating their weapons and detaining them for questioning

The pro-independence group, led the resistance in East Timor after Indonesia invaded the former Portuguese colony in 1975.

Falintil has volunteered to work with the international force and even conduct joint patrols.


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