They are being asked to register and choose if they want to return to East Timor, under a process administered by the Indonesian authorities, or stay in West Timor. The refugees were forced to flee East Timor amid widespread violence by pro-Indonesia militias after the territory's landmark independence vote in 1999. Indonesian officials say about 4,500 police and soldiers will be deployed to safeguard the one-day long registration process. UN officials have said the registration process is crucial to ending a protracted humanitarian crisis. However, many refugees have complained that they do not understand the process, nor have their options been fully explained to them.
Reprisals fear As a result many have said they plan to boycott the process.
We cannot choose between the options so we will not register. He added that many refugees have said they fear reprisals if they were to return home. In the wake of the independence vote some 250,000 refugees fled East Timor as pro-Indonesian mobs went on the rampage. The majority have since been repatriated, but up to 100,000 are thought to remain in the refugee camps. Many of the militiamen responsible for the violence are believed to be living among them.