Numbers of displaced Timorese continue to swell, says UN mission

Although recent violence in Timor-Leste appears to be abating, the number of internally displaced persons (IDPs) in the capital, Dili, continues to rise, prompting the United Nations mission to the South-East Asian country to warn today of possible food shortages.

Some 37,000 IDPs are now living in Dili, an increase of 8,000 since January, UN spokesperson Michele Montas told journalists in New York, citing recent informal studies.

She said the UN Integrated Mission in Timor-Leste (UNMIT) is concerned that this sharp rise in IDP numbers could cause shortages of food, especially rice, which could then also exacerbate the IDP situation.

Thousands of people have fled their homes in recent months because of renewed violence both in Dili and outside the capital, although UNMIT reported that the past week had witnessed the fewest violent incidents of the last two months. UN Police stepped up patrols of Dili earlier this year in response to the violence.

Violence, attributed to differences between Timor-Leste’s western and eastern regions, also erupted in May and April last year when 600 striking soldiers, or a third of the armed forces, were sacked. In the ensuing clashes 37 people were killed and 155,000 people, or 15 per cent of the total national population, were driven from their homes.

The Security Council created UNMIT last August to help restore order after that bout of violence, especially in the run-up to this year’s elections, the first round of which is scheduled for 9 April. These will be the first polls held in the tiny nation since it gained independence from Indonesia in 2002.

Ms. Montas said today that Timor-Leste is also still suffering from an outbreak of locusts, with more than 4,500 hectares of cropland in Bobonaro and Ermera districts, which are both west of Dili, affected.

The locust infestation could worsen the already precarious food security situation across the country, she added.