Timor refugees head home

An international resettlement group has started sending East Timorese refugees home from the Indonesian west of the island after a year-long break.

The International Organisation for Migration IOM said a ship carrying almost five-hundred refugees left the port of Kupang for the East Timorese capital, Dili, after they'd been interviewed to make sure they were returning voluntarily.

The IOM said it was concerned about the presence when the refugees left of a man whom it identified as a militia leader Elizariou Perreira, responsible for the destruction of Dili after East Timor voted for independence.

The Geneva-based IOM hopes to get security clearance from the United Nations to resume a twice-weekly ferry service from West Timor, where nearly eighty thousand refugees are in camps. The IOM stopped its repatriation operations a year agobecause of threats to aid workers.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service