EAST TIMOR: UN PEACEKEEPING MISSION: MORNING

(24 Sep 1999) English/Nat

Multinational peacekeeping forces in East Timor have arrested a leader of a notorious militia gang, as the United Nations debates whether to conduct a war crimes investigation into abuses in the province.

The international forces have detained dozens of suspected militia members since arriving in Dili on Monday, and have confiscated hundreds of machetes, knives and homemade guns.

Meanwhile, the commander of the peacekeeping force says his soldiers will shoot to kill if they catch anyone pointing a weapon at them.

Major General Peter Cosgrove and Indonesia's special commander in East Timor are expected to brief journalists on the transition of military control to the multinational force on Friday.

Fires were still burning on Friday morning in Dili as departing militia and the Indonesian military destroyed most of what they left behind them.

This fire at a former government guest house is believed to have been started by Indonesian troops who are now leaving the province and handing control over to the multinational peacekeeping force.

The Indonesian Justice Minister announced on Thursday that martial law had been revoked in East Timor and the responsibility for security would be handed over to the multinational force.

The government imposed martial law on September 7th after pro-Indonesia militias began a rampage of killing and looting following an overwhelming vote in favour of independence from Indonesia.

Meanwhile on Friday morning, peacekeeping troops were back on the streets of Dili.

On Thursday, gunfire crackled across the city, sending civilians scrambling for shelter and peacekeepers for their rifles in what was seen as a test of multinational authority in the province.

The incident demonstrated how jittery the multinational troops are as they face the prospect of deadly confrontations with anti-independence militias.

Three truckloads of Indonesian soldiers, apparently resentful at losing East Timor in a referendum on independence, unleashed bursts of automatic fire as they drove through the Australian and British-controlled sectors of Dili.

No one was hurt, and the soldiers were not caught.

Though the shooting was not an attack, it prompted the commander of the peace mission, Major General Peter Cosgrove, to warn that his men would use "lethal force" against anyone who even pointed a weapon at them.

The Indonesian army, which invaded East Timor in 1975 after Portugal abandoned its former colony, is now evacuating and handing control over to the multinational force.

The peacekeepers began entering East Timor this week, with about 3-thousand soldiers on the ground as of midday on Thursday and 4-thousand-500 yet to come.

Cosgrove said he would try to speed up deployment of troops after admitting that he doesn't have enough soldiers to secure all residential areas of the capital.

U-N personnel took a two-hour helicopter tour on Thursday of the towns of Ainaro, Same, Suai, Ermera, Liquica and Maliana, and found them almost completely deserted and half destroyed.

More helicopter tours of the province went ahead on Friday.

Between 190-thousand and 300-thousand people fled into the mountains and other areas during the violence in East Timor following the independence vote.

U-N workers warned on Thursday that the international community has only a few weeks to get food to starving refugees before the rains ground flights and bog down roads.

Meanwhile, Indonesia continues to withdraw its troops from East Timor.










The 122 troops are here to bolster the multinational peacekeeping forces.



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