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Map shows forced exodus of Timorese

Source
Agence France Presse - September 24, 1999

Sydney – A map smuggled out of West Timor purports to outline Indonesian plans to disperse 100,000 East Timorese across the archipelago, Australian Broadcasting Corporation radio said Friday.

The plan to depopulate the province was brought from Atambua by freelance Irish journalist Sam McQuellin. Militias regrouping at Atambua, near the border, were being armed with automatic weapons, he said.

McQuellin said a man working in a government office at Atambua gave him the map showing where East Timorese would be forced to settle.

"This document actually maps out a relocation plan for 40,000 refugee families in West Timor – which represents 100,000 people – into islands close to West Timor," McQuellin told ABC radio. "It details the amount of refugees, the locations from which they will be taken and where they will be taken."

The ABC said it had a copy of the map, labelled "potential candidate sites for resettlement", with figures for the number of families that could still be relocated to more than 20 locations in West Timor and another 13 locations on islands in east Nusa Tenggara, west of Timor Island.

"Some informed foreign observers in Atambua fear that Indonesia has absolutely no intention of allowing back any of the refugees," McQuellin said. "Of the 200,000 that are there now, many will be either relocated or executed by Indonesian soldiers and militia.

"They also think Indonesia will partition East Timor, they've entirely cleared out the western part of East Timor and will use that as a claim for pro-integration."

He suspected the Indonesian military was arming militias near the border to take on the United Nations force. "They seem to be withdrawing across the border from East Timor, they've formed a coalition and are regrouping to go back into East Timor and take on the UN," McQuellin said.

"What I noticed different from Kupang [to the west] was many of them now have automatic weapons, which I think have been supplied by the Indonesian army."

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