Violence threatens UN aid in Timor

The United Nations in Indonesian West Timor says continued violence against its aid workers there is jeopardising the operation to help more than one-hundred-thousand refugees.

A UN spokesman said gangs which oppose independence for East Timor had badly beaten three UN aid workers and set up roadblocks to stop refugees from returning home.

The UN said the latest incidents were the worst since the relief operation began last October.

The spokesman added that the Indonesian security forces were doing nothing to stop the violence and that the UN could not continue to function without adequate levels of security.

The Indonesian military however said the armed forces were trying hard to disarm the gangs. The BBC correspondent in Jakarta says the militias seem to be waging a blatant campaign of intimidation, aimed at both the refugees and the aid agencies and designed to stop attempts to repatriate the refugees to East Timor.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service