United Nations TO BEGIN ASSESSMENTS IN TIMOR-LESTE DISTRICTS

NEW YORK, 21 June (OCHA) -- The United Nations and partners will begin a rapid joint assessment in the outer districts of Timor-Leste on 26 June in order to study the impact of the influx of internally displaced persons on host communities, gather more accurate figures on numbers of internally displaced persons, and provide information on needs in the areas of protection, education, food security, health, shelter, water and other non-food relief.

While ongoing inter-agency assessments show some 69,500 internally displaced persons living at 66 locations in Dili, figures on such persons outside of the capital are less accurate.  Government sources estimated nearly 79,000 internally displaced persons in 12 districts, particularly in the Liquiça, Ermera, Aileu, Oecussi, and Baucau districts, as well as on Atauro Island.  The five largest internally displaced person locations in Dili are Dom Bosco, Cannossiana Sisters, Obrigado Barracks parking lot (the UNOTIL compound), Hospital Nacional G Valadares, and Comoro airport.

The United Nations and partners are currently in the process of distributing two weeks’ worth of food assistance -- including rice, corn-soy blend, vegetable oil and sugar amounting to more than 900 metric tons -- to nearly 69,000 internally displaced persons at 57 locations in Dili.  To date, the World Food Programme (WFP) has delivered 236 tons of food to nearly 70,000 beneficiaries in Dili and selected districts not covered by the Government’s rice distributions.

Concerned by possible food shortages outside the capital, the United Nations and partners will be undertaking food deliveries to the districts there in the coming weeks as part of a plan to deliver one-month food rations to some 78,000 internally displaced persons and host communities in the districts.  The International Organization for Migration (IOM) has already dispatched trucks carrying Government-supplied rice to Ermera district, and the WFP and World Vision plan to distribute nearly 100 tons of food aid to Manatuto and Ermera districts.  Additionally, 41 tons of rice will be dispatched to Atauro Island on 22 June as part of a shipment including tents, plastic sheeting, mosquito nets, blankets and hygiene kits.

On average, 180,000 litres of water are being delivered to 19 internally displaced person locations in Dili daily; water distributions to other districts and sub-districts will follow.  In the health sector, family and camp hygiene kits are being distributed at internally displaced person centres.  Health clinics in Dili have recently reopened.  And in the shelter sector, a total of 1,378 tents have been distributed at internally displaced person centres in Dili.

Also on 26 June, the multidisciplinary needs assessment mission led by Ian Martin, Special Envoy of the Secretary-General to Timor-Leste, will begin a three-week mission to the country to prepare recommendations on future United Nations assistance.

For further information, please call:  Stephanie Bunker, Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA)- New York, tel.:  +1 917 367 5126, mobile:  +1 917 892 1679; Kristen Knutson, OCHA- New York, tel.:  +1 917 367 9262; or Elisabeth Byrs, OCHA-Geneva, tel.:  +41 22 917 2653, mobile:  +41 79 473 4570.  OCHA press releases are available at http://ochaonline.un.org or www.reliefweb.int.

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For information media • not an official record