Peacekeepers' mission in E. Timor accomplished: Premier Howard<\/p>\n
SYDNEY, Australia (AP): A multinational force in East Timor
\nhas accomplished its mission to restore peace and order,
\nAustralia's prime minister said on Monday after returning from a
\nvisit there.<\/p>\n
Prime Minister John Howard said the situation was a vast
\nimprovement over September, when Australian troops were among the
\nfirst of the force to enter the former Indonesian territory.<\/p>\n
"Things have improved quite dramatically," said Howard, who
\nmet with the force's Australian commander, Maj.-Gen. Peter
\nCosgrove, during his one-day visit on Sunday.<\/p>\n
"The security position on the ground in East Timor is
\ndramatically better and different and more safe than it was when
\nthe troops first went there on Sept. 20," Howard told Australian
\nBroadcasting Corp. radio.<\/p>\n
Australian troops currently account for over half of the 7,500
\ninternational soldiers deployed in East Timor. Their arrival
\nended a bloody three-week rampage by Indonesian troops and their
\nmilitia allies in the wake of an overwhelming vote for
\nindependence on Aug. 30.<\/p>\n
A senior Australian official said on Monday that Australia had
\nexpected there would be many more deadly clashes in East Timor
\nbetween the peacekeepers and Indonesian-backed armed forces.<\/p>\n
"Everybody was expecting some fairly major clashes in which
\npossibly quite large numbers of militias would be killed," said
\nthe official, speaking in Sydney on condition of anonymity.<\/p>\n
Only a handful of deadly clashes occurred involving the
\ninternational troops. Two Australian soldiers were injured in one
\nfirefight, and at least two militiamen and two Indonesian police
\nofficers were shot, one fatally, in separate incidents since
\nSept. 20.<\/p>\n
Last month, the UN Security Council approved a blue beret
\ncontingent of more than 9,000 soldiers and 1,600 policemen to
\ntake over from the current emergency force once the world body
\nformally takes charge of the region in order to guide it to
\nindependence.<\/p>\n
Howard said he did not know exactly when the peacekeeping
\nforce would be replaced by the blue beret contingent, to which
\nAustralia will contribute up to 2,000 troops.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, victims of a wave of anti-independence killings in
\nEast Timor two months ago were buried in a somber ceremony in
\nDili on Monday.<\/p>\n
The 23 unidentified bodies were among 26 found in a mass grave in
\nIndonesia's West Timor last week. It was the largest individual
\ngroup of bodies yet to be discovered and the first across the
\nborder.<\/p>\n
They were reburied under searing afternoon sun in a ceremony
\nwatched by around 200 people, but a member of the multinational
\nforce said that could be exhumed again to provide evidence
\nconcerning the killings.<\/p>\n
"These bodies may be exhumed as a later date which is why the
\ncoffins and grave sites are numbered," a military police source
\nwith the force told Reuters.<\/p>\n
A group of men wearing bright green rubber gloves lifted the
\nsimple pine caskets from a United Nations truck, while military
\npolice ushered them to the corresponding grave sites marked by a
\nsawn-off steel post with a numbered tag.<\/p>\n
The 23 bodies were brought back to Dili at the weekend from
\nthe site just over the border where they were discovered. They
\nwere kept temporarily in the former jail of the Indonesian
\nmilitary.<\/p>\n
A priest at the ceremony said they had been buried in Dili at
\nthe request of the territory's spiritual leader Bishop Carlos
\nBelo as they had not been identified.<\/p>\n
They are believed to have been victims of a massacre in the
\nchurch in the southwestern town of Suai, near the site where they
\nwere discovered. The bodies included some women and children.<\/p>",
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