East Timor force starts fanning out<\/p>\n
DILI, East Timor (Agencies): The United Nations International
\nForce for East Timor (Interfet) began cautiously moving out of
\nDili on Wednesday after Sander Thoenes, the Jakarta-based
\njournalist for the Financial Times of London was shot dead on
\nthe city's outskirts on Tuesday night.<\/p>\n
A government warehouse was looted by hundreds of hungry
\nrefugees back from nearby hills, while an officer in the UN force
\nsaid it had confiscated hundreds of crude weapons.<\/p>\n
The body of journalist Thoenes, a Dutch citizen, was found
\nbehind an abandoned house in Dili's Becora subdistrict on
\nWednesday.<\/p>\n
"It has been quite a dangerous 24 hours," the multinational
\nforce's commander, Maj. Gen. Peter Cosgrove, told Reuters.<\/p>\n
Australian Brigadier Mark Evans said 150 soldiers had landed
\nin Baucau in the first major deployment outside Dili since the UN
\nmultinational force arrived in East Timor on Monday. But he
\nacknowledged that much work remained to be done.<\/p>\n
"We have certainly made a difference but there are still some
\nvery dangerous people out there," said Evans, the commander of
\nthe UN land forces.<\/p>\n
More than 2,000 of an anticipated 7,500 foreign troops have
\nbeen deployed in East Timor to end a wave of bloodshed unleashed
\nby pro-Jakarta militiamen.<\/p>\n
Major Marcus Fielding, the operations officer for the force's
\nland component, said hundreds of homemade guns, machetes and
\nknives were seized.<\/p>\n
"We have lost count of the number of weapons we have
\nconfiscated from the militias and others," he was quoted as
\nsaying.<\/p>\n
Separately on Tuesday, AFP reported that a British reporter
\nand an American photographer were ambushed on the outskirts of
\nDili, allegedly by men in Indonesian Army uniforms.<\/p>\n
Veteran Sunday Times reporter Jon Swain and a colleague, U.S
\nphotographer Chip Hires, fled into the bush, took refuge in a
\nnearby village and managed to phone their office in London, who
\nconveyed a message to Interfet in Dili.<\/p>\n
Australia's Major Chip Henriss-Anderssen said a rescue
\noperation was mounted involving a light armored vehicle, 100
\ntroops and an undisclosed number of Black Hawk helicopters.<\/p>\n
"As of this morning, they are in safe hands," he said.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, AP reported that Australia's military would stop
\nflying journalists to East Timor because resources were too
\nlimited.<\/p>\n
The Australian military, which is leading the UN peacekeeping
\nforce in East Timor, said the decision was not related to the
\nslaying of Thoenes.<\/p>\n
The news agency also said that aid flights carried emergency
\nrations to East Timor's hungry refugees on Wednesday for the
\nfirst time this week, picking up again after a three-day halt
\nforced by the multinational peacekeeping force's deployment.<\/p>\n
Three foreign military planes were to drop a total of 18 to 30
\ntons of daily rations to spots where high numbers of refugees
\nwere known to have fled.<\/p>\n
Eighteen representatives of international aid groups were
\nflown into Dili on Wednesday to start assessing the region's
\noverall needs.<\/p>\n
In the border town of Atambua in the western half of Timor
\nisland, a pro-Jakarta militia member said one of his colleagues
\nwas killed and five others injured in an ambush by
\nproindependence militias in Zumalai, Ainaro regency in East Timor
\nearly on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
Miguel, 30, from the Do or Die for Integration (Mahidi),
\nsurvived the ambush, and told The Jakarta Post on Wednesday that
\nthe prointegration militias were attacked when they were
\nescorting a convoy of refugees fleeing to East Nusa Tenggara.<\/p>\n
A doctor at a local hospital told the Post that George Gomes,
\n36, died of bullet wounds and said eight bullets were pumped into
\nhis body.<\/p>\n
Reuters reported that prointegration militias vowed to fight
\nto regain control of East Timor at a ceremony on Monday to set up
\na new umbrella body and denounced the dispatch of UN peacekeeping
\nforces to the former Portuguese colony.<\/p>\n
Thousands of militiamen bearing guns, machetes and rifles
\ngathered in Atambua, crying "Viva Integration" as their leaders
\nsigned the establishment of the Front of Nation Unity.<\/p>\n
In Jakarta, Indonesian Military (TNI) chief Gen. Wiranto said
\nhe expected martial law in the troubled territory to be lifted
\nsoon.<\/p>\n
Wiranto said the situation in the territory was calm.<\/p>\n
Violence erupted after the result of the Aug. 30 referendum
\nwas announced, showing an overwhelming majority voted against
\nautonomy within Indonesia.<\/p>\n
Independence supporters say thousands have been killed.
\nWiranto has said the confirmed death toll is under 100.<\/p>\n
"In a short time we are going to cancel the state of military
\nemergency in East Timor," Coordinating Minister for Political
\nAffairs and Security Feisal Tanjung said. "We will go back to
\ncivil order in which the police are responsible for security,
\nbecause according to reports, the situation has improved."
\n(27\/byg\/prb)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/east-timor-force-starts-fanning-out-1447893297",
"image": ""
},
"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
}