Geneva - Almost 50,000 East Timorese refugees have returned home this year, bringing to 174,000 the number who have gone back since October last year, the UN's refugee agency, UNHCR, said yesterday.
UNHCR spokesman Mr Ron Redmond said about 3,200 of them had returned home in the last four months under their own steam after aid workers withdrew from West Timor when three UNHCR staff were murdered in September.
