Vaudine England, Jakarta – Despite government claims that pro-Indonesian militias have been disarmed in West Timor, United Nations staff fear the fate of more than 100,000 East Timorese refugees still in the western half of the divide d island will be determined without UN help.

Security Minister Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has been briefing diplomats over the past two days about Indonesia's efforts to comply with international demands for an end to militia terror in West Timor.

"We've done everything we can do. There has been a lot of progress," said Foreign Ministry spokesman Sulaiman Abdulmanan. "I hope everyone is satisfied because this is the best we can do." Foreign Minister Alwi Shihab is on his way to brief the UN Security Council on Jakarta's work, which includes the arrest of notorious militia leader Eurico Guterres and the detention of six murder suspects in West Timor.

Minister for Resettlement and Regional Development Erna Witoelar said yesterday her office planned to register, repatriate and resettle the refugees, but that Jakarta needed foreign funds to complete the task. The donor and diplomatic communities remain sceptical amid fears that the refugees will still be deprived of a free, safe and fair choice about where they go.

"The spectre still looms of Indonesia getting fed up with the refugees and the attendant problems and just forcibly closing the camps," a UN source said. "There's a really strong possibility that all this could happen without the UN's involvement. There is nothing in writing to insist on a UN presence and the only bargaining chip we have is the money."

Before the murder of three foreign UN aid workers in Atambua, West Timor, on September 6, the United Nations and other agencies were providing extensive aid to refugees and trying to register refugees, who could then choose whether they stayed in Indonesia or were helped back to East Timor.

The complete withdrawal of foreign staff on security grounds following the murders has produced an uneasy stand-off: the UN will not return until all is safe in West Timor, but it remains unwilling to take blanket assurances from Indonesia about security.

"The Indonesians are patting themselves on the back, saying how many weapons they have collected from militias without any violence or disorder," said a Western diplomat. "But we think it's premature to congratulate them yet. They haven't opened up the process [to international scrutiny]." Another diplomat said: "Deep down I would guess they've done very little."

Indonesia says it is ready to start registering the refugees and international observers would be invited to witness the process to ensure its credibility. "We are aiming to solve the refugee problem totally," said Ms Witoelar. "By the end of 2001 there will be no more refugees."

But Indonesia can only provide housing for about one-eighth of the refugees, or 4,000 families, and must balance the refugees' demands against those of local residents, said Ms Witoelar. Raising fears of a continued exclusion of foreign aid workers, she also said a fresh registration process would begin in a month.

In September, 332 refugees returned home to East Timor, an increase over the 190 repatriated the previous month. Recent returnees cite several reasons for returning, including the reduced level of help in the camps.

Some reported that militiamen had left some refugee sites, while others said militia had tightened their control. They said militiamen patrolled the sites at night, undertake a weekly roll call of refugees and only allowed the displaced East Timorese to leave the settlements to shop if they left some family members behind, who were effectively kept as hostages.