GENEVA, Switzerland, June 2 (UPI) -- The United Nations says it is airlifting urgently needed supplies for tens of thousands of displaced people in Timor Leste.
The office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees says the first flight in the airlift was scheduled to leave Amman, Jordan, late Friday with lightweight family tents, plastic sheets and jerry cans for some of the more than 100,000 people -- about 1 in 10 of the total population -- uprooted by the unrest that began with the dismissal in April of a third of the armed forces.
Further flights are planned, probably using Darwin, Australia, as a staging point, to bring in more tents and plastic sheeting as well as blankets, mosquito nets and kitchen sets. An emergency team is deploying to Dili, the capital, over the weekend to reinforce staff already on the ground, UNHCR said.
"In a phased approach and in a joint effort with other U.N. agencies, international organizations and non-governmental organizations, UNHCR is sending shelter and non-food supplies for up to 30,000 people displaced by the violence and looting," spokesman Ron Redmond told reporters at UNHCR headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland.
The U.N. Office in Timor-Leste reported Friday that although there had been some looting and burning in scattered areas in the suburb of Becora in the capital of Dili, more people were out on the streets trying to get back to their daily routines, such as selling produce.
As preparations were made for the airlift, radio and TV stations in Dili, continued to broadcast a videotaped appeal from U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan for calm in the violence-torn country which the U.N. shepherded to independence from Indonesia four years ago.
Annan urged people to set aside differences and end unrest in the interest of the nation.
