Geneva – Conditions in refugee camps in West Timor are deteriorating, with provincial authorities reporting that at least 35 people, mostly children, died in one camp over a 10-day period, the UN refugee agency said at the weekend. Thirty-two of the victims were children under five.

The East Timorese refugees died from various ailments, but primarily diarrhoea and malaria between November 22 and December 1, said UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) spokesman Mr Ron Redmond. The people were staying at the Tua Pukan camp located outside the West Timor capital, Kupang, he said.

Tens of thousands of East Timorese fled the territory to escape violence by militias after an overwhelming vote for independence at the end of August.

Ground water sources in camps were contaminated, toilets either did not work or were poorly maintained and water delivered to the site was reportedly untreated, he said.

Previously, authorities said 140 people died at Tua Pukan over a three-month period. Mr Redmond said the repatriation program for East Timorese returnees had reached "a critical stage" and there had been a sharp drop in the number of people returning.

A spokesman for the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), Mr Jean-Philippe Chauzy, said that among people in East Timor there was growing tension between those returning from West Timor and those who stayed in the territory but fled to the mountains.

People arriving back in East Timor with assets had provoked, in some cases, resentment from those who had stayed and lost all their possessions, Mr Chauzy said. UNHCR and IOM said the onset of the rainy season had also made it difficult to reach people in remote camps.

Mr Redmond said systematic intimidation continued in West Timor. Militias in the Atambua border region have threatened to take hostages from families going back. The chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Henry Shelton, has backed Australia to head the 11,000-strong UN peace-keeping force in East Timor from early next year.

This puts the US at odds with some Asian nations which have criticised Australia's role as head of the existing multinational force.