As street violence continues, IOM
Timor-Leste, working with the Timorese Ministry of Labour, is
delivering food and water to thousands of displaced people around
the country.

At the weekend IOM trucks delivered some 18
tonnes of rice and high energy BP5 biscuits to IDPs in Aileu and
Ermera and to the national police (PNTL) through UNPOL in Atabai
and Baucau. 

IOM trucks and staff also helped Oxfam and the
International Committee of the Red Cross to deliver some 118,000
litres of drinking water to IDP camps around Dili.

IOM now has eight trucks for food
distribution, two for water distribution and seven light vehicles
deployed. A total of 75 staff are now located in Dili, Baucau, Los
Palos and Viqueque, including 10 international staff.

The UN estimates that between 100,000 and
110,000 people may have been displaced by the violence that erupted
in Timor-Leste in mid-May, triggering the intervention of an
international peace keeping force (IKPF) led by Australia.

As the scale of the emergency unfolds, IOM is
planning to appeal for nearly US$6 million from the international
community to provide transport and logistics, camp management
coordination, and return and reintegration assistance to the tens
of thousands of Timorese displaced by the violence.

IOM last week requested funding from the
UN’s Central Emergency Revolving Fund (CERF) to pay for
transport and logistics operations and provision of non-food relief
items, including tents, tarpaulins, blankets, mosquito nets, jerry
cans and water bladders.

“Many people who had very little before
have now lost everything, perhaps for the second time in six years.
Desperation breeds instability and we need to act fast to meet
people’s immediate needs,” says IOM Timor-Leste Chief
of Mission Luiz Vieira.     

The UN has asked IOM to coordinate logistics
and transport during the emergency, including liaison with the IPKF
– which now includes troops and police from Australia, New
Zealand, Portugal and Malaysia.

IOM has operated in Timor Leste since October
1999, when it established a massive land, sea and air bridge to
help some 190,000 East Timorese to return home, following the
territory’s vote for independence from Indonesia after 25
years of occupation.

IOM subsequently implemented a wide range of
small infrastructure projects throughout the country to stabilize
returnee populations. It also worked to build government capacity
and organized the demobilization and reintegration of nearly 2,000
members of the country’s Falintil guerrilla army, with
support from the World Bank and USAID.

For more information, please contact

Luiz Vieira

IOM Dili

Tel: +670.3.33113038

Mobile: +670.7230808

E-mail:  "mailto:lvieira@iom.int" target="_blank" title=
"">lvieira@iom.int