Dili – As a UN security team toured refugee camps near Indonesian controlled West Timor's border with East Timor Tuesday, officials of the world body in Dili warned that pro-Jakarta militias were still intimidating refugees.

The UN team is in West Timor to assess whether it's safe for humanitarian personnel to return to the region where militiamen murdered three aid workers last year. The UN and aid agencies evacuated all staffers from the province after the killings, saying that the region is too unsafe for their return.

The estimated 50,000 East Timorese refugees living in camps in the province have been without international aid since the UN workers left in September, 2000. Richard Manlove, who is heading the mission, Tuesday refused to comment on the conditions in the camps.

However in Dili, East Timor's UN High Commissioner for Refugees Director Bernard Kerblat, said that very few refugees have returned in the past month from West Timor.

"These people still remain in camps where there's a fair degree of intimidation and manipulation from hardcore militias," he said. Kerblat urged the Indonesian government to ensure all refugees who want to return are able to.