The returning population includes local staff members of the United Nations Mission in East Timor who are identifying themselves at the former U.N. compound. Aid agencies also report that civilians are coming forward to volunteer for the continuing relief effort.
Staff say that gangrene has set in already in many of the cases.
Agencies will not construct camps for the temporarily displaced in Dili, but will provide them with plastic sheeting, food and basic services until they can return to their homes. Despite the improving security situation in Dili, U.N. troops last night identified several members of the anti-independence militia at the port. Outside the capital, a first convoy of trucks carrying relief supplies today reached Baucau, East Timor s second largest town. The shortage of trucks and secure warehouses has meant that supplies are often loaded onto military helicopters directly from aid flights as soon as they touch down at the airport. In Kupang the authorities insist on a 24-hour advance notice to the police before visiting the camps.