Vatican City, 28 June 2006 - With a fresh outbreak of violence in Dili, East Timor, the Caritas Confederation is appealing for funds to support a 1.3 million USD project to continue to bring food and emergency supplies to 35,000 people sheltering in make-shift camps across the city.
"The situation is so volatile, it changes day to day. One day it seems to be improving, and the next tensions are flaring again," said Jay Maheswaran, East Timor country director for Caritas Australia.
There was a spate of house burnings and violence overnight Tuesday, despite the hope that the resignation of Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri the day before would help to defuse the conflict. Many in East Timor had blamed him for the ethnic violence that has raged in Dili for months.
"Instead the violence has now become politically-driven, with pro-Alkatiri and anti-Alkatiri factions facing off against one another," said Dr. Maheswaran. "That has also spilled over into some of the camps for internally displaced people," he said.
Some 70,000 people in total are living in IDP camps in and around the capital city. At least 14,000 people alone are being sheltered by the Don Bosco College of the Salesian Brothers, about 10 kilometres west of the city in Comoro. About another 8,000 are being housed at a convent run by the Canossian Sisters. The thousands of others are sheltering with other religious missions, churches and the mosque, as well as other compounds, such as police barracks and the airport.
International forces were monitoring the IDP camps to make sure they were secure.
East Timor is more than 95 per cent Catholic, and many citizens have fled to those places that gave them refuge during the conflict in 1999 following a vote by referendum in favor of independence from Indonesia.
Caritas Australia and U.S.-based Catholic Relief Services have been working with local partners such as the Justice and Peace Commission of Dili, Caritas Dili, religious congregations and the neighbouring Baucau diocese, supplying 35,000 IDPs at ten different sites with food, water, tarps, sleeping mats, cooking sets and hygiene items.
The appeal is also helping to fund a mobile health clinic and is promoting awareness about health issues in the IDP camps.
Dr. Maheswaran said that the main concern now is to be able to care for people who are moving even further away from Dili as the clashes continue. According to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, nearly 80,000 people have fled to other districts in East Timor. And the number of displaced in the districts is rising quickly, Dr Manheswaran said.
"For example, in Baucau, which is East Timor's second biggest city, the population has increased by 40%, and the administrative structures there are really struggling to help these people," said Dr. Manheswaran.
The Caritas partners are also active in the more remote Baucau and Oecussi districts.
Toward Peace
The Caritas programme of providing relief assistance includes a plan to reconcile the country's estranged communities once the emergency phase has passed. The mutual fear that now characterises relations between the Loromonu tribes of the west and the Lorosae has to be addressed through dialogue, so that the two can return to living side-by-side.
About 7,000 people, many schoolchildren, will be selected to participate in activities, sports and community work that also serve as a cultural exchange to bring about understanding of one another. The local Caritas partners in Dili estimate this could have a ripple effect on about 70,000 people, as the people pass on their experiences to family and friends.
Many other people will participate in work training schemes to help rebuild homes and other buildings that were destroyed. Men will learn skills such as masonry, electrical work, or brickmaking. Women will learn to make marketable products, such as soap, weaved mats, and traditional foods. They will learn skills that can continue to serve them once peace is restored.
One of the most imminent dangers is the restlessness of the youth, as Brother Adriano de Jesus of the Don Bosco College explained early on in the crisis. With 70 to 80 per cent of the young population without work and without work prospects, it is important to keep them busy, he said.
The recent flare-up in ethnic tension had its initial spark in February, when 600 soldiers, mostly from the country's east, were sacked after protesting over work conditions and discrimination against them from the military's elites, tribes mostly from the west.
After protests over the move in April erupted into violence, many of the former soldiers fled to the hills for fear of attacks, and Dili descended into anarchy as all military and police control collapsed. Gangs of thugs roamed the streets, attacking ethnic rivals and looting homes and shops, using machetes and even slingshots as weapons. Entire neighbourhoods went up in flames, the work of arsonists.
The chaos was brought under control by a contingent of international troops led by 2,700 Australians, brought in at the request of the government. New Zealand, Malaysia and Portugal also sent forces, bolstered by contingents of Australian and Portuguese police.
Caritas Internationalis is a confederation of 162 Catholic relief, development, and social service organisations present in over 200 countries and territories.
For more information, contact:
Nancy McNally, media officer
Tel: +39 06 69879752
mcnally@caritas.va
www.caritas.org