Agency teams wait to get full picture

By Naomi Larkin

New Zealand aid agencies are waiting for fresh news on the situation in East Timor before they act.

The first contingent of the United Nations multinational force is due in the Indonesian province today and will be able to give agencies a clearer picture of conditions.

World Vision New Zealand spokesman James Addis, who is in West Timor, told the New Zealand Herald that it was dangerous for foreigners as they were being treated with aggression.

Mr Addis, World Vision's only foreigner in the territory, said Indonesians working for the agency, or recruited locally, were assisting in the camps.

Caritas Aotearoa spokesman Peter Zwart said its aid would be within guidelines set down by the UN force.

"Once the peacekeepers are on the ground and establish what they know to be the security situation, there will be more room for humanitarian agencies to operate."

Caritas, a development agency of the Catholic Church in New Zealand, also aims to assess the state of Catholic health centres in East Timor.

Unicef New Zealand spokesman Jeff Brown said the next two days would be vital in determining what assistance the organisation should provide.

"We've got a team in Darwin that is set to go into Dili as soon as possible.

"But it's based on what will or won't occur and we won't know about that until the next 48 hours or so.

"Like all the other agencies, it's all a bit of by guess and by God."

John Bowis, executive director of Save The Children New Zealand, said its British equivalent had a team waiting to go into both East and West Timor, but it would not act until the area was secure.

Red Cross New Zealand spokesman Greg Clewley said it would only send people when the "security situation flattens out and is safe."

Terri-Ann Scorer, of Oxfam New Zealand, said the organisation worldwide had set up a team in Darwin that would look after shelter, water and sanitation needs.

Appeal fund details: Caritas Aotearoa $20 donation line, 0900 411 11; Red Cross NZ auto $20 donation, 0900 33 100; Unicef auto $25 donation, 0900 435 754; Save the Children NZ, 0800 167 168; Oxfam NZ, 0800 600 700; World Vision, 0800 802 000.