Most UN staff in the West Timor border town of Atambua were removed on Saturday after pro-Indonesian militia threatened and surrounded their offices.
     The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said most of its foreign staff had left the town, but the agency did not call the move an evacuation. Meanwhile, a spokesperson for the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said its office in the town had been "under siege by at least 50 machete-wielding Aitarak militia." Aitarak militia were involved in several attacks in East Timor last year (Agence France-Presse/Singapore Straits Times, 13 Aug).
     On Friday, the UN Security Council and UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan urged Indonesia to take appropriate measures to stop the violence and apprehend those responsible for the attacks. The Security Council met Friday to discuss two clashes between UN peacekeepers and unidentified armed individuals.
     The head of the UN mission in East Timor, Sergio Vieira de Mello, said Friday that "there are a few groups of fairly well-trained and well-coordinated militia operating in the district of Suai and Covalima, possibly having entered also the Ainaro district" (UN Newservice, 11 Aug).
     Two peacekeepers have been killed in gun battles with suspected militia members along the East Timorese border, including the death of an Australian soldier last month and a Nepalese peacekeeper last Thursday (UN Wire sources).
     Four or five groups of well-armed militia numbering about 75 people have infiltrated East Timor in the past several weeks, launching attacks and threatening civilians. The groups are suspected to have at least some ties with the Indonesian military, with many militiamen suspected to be former Indonesian soldiers. Indonesian military equipment has been found on the scene after UN peacekeepers clashed with these armed bands.
     Indonesia has said its military is not helping the militia, but has admitted that the groups may include former soldiers.
     UN officials say the escalation of militia strikes is the result of several factors, including the upcoming first anniversary of East Timor's referendum on independence on 30 August. Others believe the militias have used political instability elsewhere in Indonesia, such as the Moluccas, to their advantage, engaging in violent activity while the government is busy with other problems.
     Because of their connection to the camps in Indonesian territory, militias are complicating efforts to repatriate East Timorese refugees still in West Timor. Approximately 250,000 East Timorese fled the country in the wake of violence after the country's independence referendum last year. Some 100,000 still remain in refugee camps.
     UNHCR has had to reduce its operations in West Timor recently because of increasing violence in the region. Indonesia has said it will close the refugee camps, but it has not given a specific date. The United Nations supports the move, saying it will hasten refugee return.
     "By closing down the camps, the source of all those problems ... could be abated," said Indonesian Foreign Minister Alwi Shihab. He said Indonesia is developing repatriation plans and is asking the UN for assistance (Rajiv Chadrasekaran, Washington Post, 12 Aug).
     "The solution is what we have been requesting from the Indonesian government from October last year, which is to identify, disarm and detain those extremist elements who are operating from within the camp," de Mello said. "As long as that does not happen, refugees will continue to not come back and our people will continue to die" (Joanna Jolly, South China Morning Post, 14 Aug).
     The incident at Atambua has further slowed UN efforts to return refugees. "We do not see a resumption of our repatriation operations in the next several days," UNHCR spokesperson Ron Redmond said on Friday (UN Newservice).
     Meanwhile, UNHCR and the IOM are planning to meet with the Indonesian military today to arrange for the return of 20,000 East Timorese connected to Indonesia's former civil defense force.
     With the number of refugees returning to East Timor falling to about 100 a week, officials are hoping the meeting will stimulate the repatriation process. The discussion is expected to encourage refugees with past ties to the Indonesian military to return to East Timor without fear of reprisal (Jolly, South China Morning Post).