Joanna Jolly, Atambua – A secret meeting between senior East Timorese militia leaders, United Nations political staff and East Timorese political and military leaders could result in the return home of thousands of East Timorese refugees from camps in Indonesian West Timor.
The meeting, which took place in East Timorese territory close to the border crossing place at Motaain on Tuesday, marked the first time a group of senior militia leaders has entered the newly independent country to discuss repatriation with East Timorese leaders.
More than 100,000 East Timorese refugees are still living in squalid camps in West Timor, where they fled or were forcibly deported by militia and the Indonesian military after East Timor voted for independence last year.
After the murder of three UN staff in Atambua, West Timor, in September, all UN and international aid agencies withdrew from the province. Reports from a small number of refugees, who have returned to East Timor since then, say militias continue to intimidate those who want to go back.
On Tuesday, militia leaders Joanico Cesario, Cancio Lopez de Carvalho and his brother Nemecio Lopez de Carvalho travelled across the border to meet seven members of East Timorese political organisation the national council for Timorese resistance (CNRT) and two members of the East Timorese guerilla army Falintil.
The meeting took place on the eve of yesterday's visit by a UN Security Council delegation to the West Timorese border town of Atambua to assess the implementation of Security Council resolution 1319, which requires Indonesia to disarm the militia and bring those responsible for the UN murders to justice.
According to a source close to the UN Transitional Administration in East Timor (Untaet), warm greetings were exchanged between the two groups on Tuesday, and the two-hour talks took place in a spirit of reconciliation. "Joanico gave concrete plans to return 6,211 of his followers and said he was able to give us a list of names," said the source.
"Cancio and Nemecio were interested in returning to their home town of Ainaro on a 'look and see' visit, and invited Falintil to their camps around the West Timorese border town of Betun," the source added.
The meeting was initiated after the three leaders wrote to the UN Security Council in October saying they would return to East Timor and face justice if their security was guaranteed. The leaders and their supporters say they've split from the Union of Timorese Warriors (Untas), the main political body representing refugees in West Timor, and believe their lives are in danger because they know too much about who organised the campaign of violence and destruction in East Timor last year.
Despite a statement from the regional Indonesian commander, Major-General Kiki Syahnakri, yesterday that the militia had been 90 per cent disarmed, militia leaders say they still have many automatic weapons.
The Untaet source described Tuesday's meeting as promising, but warned other past militia initiatives had not resulted in any returnees. "We will now see if these ideas become reality, but it is a good beginning," the source said.
The three militia leaders were not among refugees and community leaders who met the Security Council delegation yesterday. In a visit organised by the Indonesian Government, the delegation was taken to the Haliwen refugee camp near Atambua, where residents claimed there were no militia, they had enough food and the situation on the border was calm. The delegation spent close to an hour in the camp.
Augustine Pinto, who called himself the leader of the Dili branch of Untas, told the head of of the delegation, Namibian Ambassador Martin Andjaba, the people in the camp of 12,000 were not ready to return yet. "We are Indonesian patriots," said Mr Pinto. "We want to go back with the red and white [Indonesian] flag." Mr Andjaba said he had not spent enough time in the camp to assess whether it was safe for UN agencies to return to West Timor.