Dili – The intimidation of voters is rampant in East Timor and there has been no significant improvement in security, the independent Carter Center poll monitoring organization said Tuesday.
"An atmosphere of violence, intimidation and insecurity continues to pervade most areas of East Timor," the center said in its first report on the East Timor situation.
Voter intimidation, internally displaced persons, active campaigning for autonomy by the Indonesian government and military, and the need for the Indonesian military in the territory to be redeployed were the four main issues of concern.
The team from the center, set up by former US president Jimmy Carter, said pro-autonomy militias were carrying out most of the intimidation.
"These groups are subjecting potential voters to an intense and systematic campaign of intimidation in an attempt to influence the outcome of the consultation," it said.
Numerous interviews had told of "widespread harrassment and intimidation" with militia members visiting homes at night and threatening violent retribution after the polls if autonomy is rejected, the centre said.
"Unfortunately there is little evidence that the Indonesian police have been succesful in improving the situation," the Carter Center said.
These problems "must be addressed to ensure that conditions established by the May 5 New York agreement for the popular consultation are met."
Under the accord, Indonesia and Portugal agreed to the deployment of UN personnel in East Timor to conduct a poll in the former Portuguese colony on its future.
Jakarta has said it may let go of the territory it invaded in 1975 and annexed in 1976, if most people reject an offer of broad-based autonomy under Indonesia.
The Carter Center has deployed two observers in East Timor since July 4 and is expecting another eight to arrive next week.
The spokesman of the UN Mission in East Timor (UNAMET), David Wimhurst said Tuesday two voter registration centres shut briefly on Monday due to pro-Indonesia militias but all 200 centres were back in operation Tuesday.
"Generally, we are pleased it is going well [the registration] and it seems there is increasing confidence in the process," he added.
One registration centre in Lebos near Maliana in Bobonaro district was closed around midday after 200 militia members held a meeting nearby, Wimhurst said. "There was no threat to our registration centre but for security we closed early," he said.
Another post in Cassa near Suai closed briefly after two militia members protested the need to produce two identification documents rather than one to register. The post reopened later Monday after a team of civilian police went there to assess the situation.
"We encourage everyone to register as soon as possible," Wimhurst said, adding it would help avoid a backlog towards the end of the 20-day registration period.
The Carter Center said there were 30,000 internally displaced persons in East Timor, citing figures from the UN High Commissioner for Refugees.
A church charity group, Caritas, said last weekend it had registered more than 58,000 refugees throughout East Timor.
Most of the refugees, the Carter Center report said, "have been driven from their homes in the past six months by pro-integration militias as a direct results of their presumed political beliefs.
"It is essential that adequate security conditions exist for all of them to return to their homes immediately and to ensure that no others are driven from their homes by violence and intimidation."
To improve the climate of fear a timetable for the completion of the redeployment of the Indonesian military in East Timor should be established and implemented, it added.
The Indonesian military has gradually replaced more than 1,000 troops in the former Portuguese colony with police who are responsible for security in the territory under the New York agreement.