There is an urgent need to return East
Timorese displaced from West Timor and elsewhere in Indonesia to their
communities of origin in order for rehabilitation, reconstruction and development
to begin as quickly as possible. The safe and orderly return transportation
of displaced persons is the responsibility of IOM by agreement and in close
cooperation with UNHCR.
Summary
Today, IOM repatriated by land and sea a total of 572 people to East Timor
A total of 376 refugees were extracted from Haliwen, Fatubenao, Sesekoe, Lakafehan and Fatukmetan, five camps in the region of Atambua. The convoy of 27 IOM leased trucks took the refugees to the Motaain border crossing and then onto Batugade. IOM Dili provided secondary transport inside East Timor. The majority of returnees went to Dili (301), while the remainder went to Balibo , Maliana and Liquica .
There were no movements today between Betun and Suai due to a lack of registration.
An IOM chartered ferry left Kupang for Dili today with 196 returnees on board. .
As of 16 December, IOM has organized the return by land, sea and air of 69,615 East Timorese from West Timor, from Indonesia and from Australia. So far, more than 120,000 people have returned in an organized or in a spontaneous way to East Timor.
Total returns by land
To date, IOM has returned 28,679 East Timorese by land from West Timor.
Total returns by sea.
To date, IOM has returned 28,988 East Timorese by sea from West Timor and from other parts of Indonesia
Total returns by air
To date, IOM has returned 7,283 East Timorese from Kupang to Dili and 3,908 from other parts of Indonesia.
A total of 757 East Timorese have so far been returned by IOM from Darwin to Dili.
Funding
IOM has made an appeal to the international community for US$25,565,000 for its Timor activities. This includes US$23,250,000 for the return assistance of displaced people to East Timor. So far a total of US$6,678,525 have been pledged by Portugal, the United Kingdom, the United States of America, Germany, the Netherlands and ECHO. IOM currently faces a shortfall of US$18,886,481.