RI cracks down on militia, but danger remains, UN says<\/p>\n
SYDNEY, Australia (AFP): Squads of up to 30 militia fighters
\nhave slipped across the border into East Timor to conduct long-
\nrange patrols, threatening the stability of the territory, a
\nsenior UN official warned on Monday.<\/p>\n
Militiamen based in Indonesian West Timor appeared to be under
\nrenewed pressure from Jakarta to disarm but still posed a
\n\"hypothetical\" threat to the fledgling state, UN special
\nrepresentative in East Timor, Sergio Vieira de Mello, told
\nreporters here.<\/p>\n
The absence of humanitarian agencies from the border areas of
\nWest Timor has undermined the UN's ability to gauge the
\neffectiveness of Jakarta's attempts to reign in its former
\nallies, said de Mello, who also heads the United Nations
\nTransitional Administration in East Timor (UNTAET).<\/p>\n
He said policing the border against militia infiltration from
\nWest Timor remained a problem. \"We need more help,\" de Mello
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
\"We have indications the TNI (Indonesian army) and police are
\nactively looking for weapons. \"How successful they are is
\nimpossible for me to say.\"<\/p>\n
De Mello stressed that the militias were well-armed and had
\nchanged tactics in July, abandoning hit-and-run cross-border
\nraids in favor of long-range patrols inside East Timor.<\/p>\n
He said militiamen had infiltrated East Timor during the past
\ntwo-and-a-half months and probed as far as Ainaro in the
\nterritory's UN-designated sector central. \"So we must be ready
\nfor the hypothesis of new infiltration to take place in the
\ncoming weeks.\"<\/p>\n
\"When I say disarming the militias, I am not referring to
\nshotguns,\" he said.<\/p>\n
He said groups of between five and 30 men had crossed the
\nborder recently in rugged terrain armed with \"combat weapons\"
\nsuch as the Chinese-made SKS automatic rifle, M16s and rocket-
\npropelled grenades.<\/p>\n
De Mello's schedule in Australia includes meetings with
\nAustralian Prime Minister John Howard and other government
\nministers as well as defense force chief Admiral Chris Barrie.<\/p>\n
The renegotiation of the Timor Gap treaty, which governs vast
\nundersea oil and gas reserves lying between Australia's north and
\nthe fledgling state, will also be on the agenda.<\/p>\n
\"The resources of the Timor Sea are vital to the future of
\nEast Timor,\" de Mello said.<\/p>\n
After more than three-quarters of East Timor's population
\nvoted in favor of independence from Indonesia in last year's
\nAugust 30 referendum, pro-Jakarta militias embarked upon a
\nscorched earth rampage.<\/p>\n
Up to 120,000 refugees remain in camps in West Timor under the
\nfist of militiamen armed by renegade sections of the Indonesian
\nmilitary.<\/p>\n
\"Their situation is likely to be appalling right now,\" de
\nMello said.<\/p>\n
An attack on a UN office in Atambua in West Timor on Sept. 6,
\nduring which three aid workers were murdered, forced the
\nevacuation of aid agency staff, effectively denying the UN a
\nvital source of intelligence.<\/p>\n
In other developments, a 36-member National Council will be
\nsworn in during a ceremony in East Timor's capital, Dili, late
\nMonday.<\/p>\n
The council, drawn exclusively from the ranks of East
\nTimorese, will become the forerunner to an independent parliament
\nin East Timor.<\/p>\n
\"There will be elections next year. There isn't a date yet,
\nbut it isn't far away,\" UN spokesman Fred Eckhard said late last
\nweek.<\/p>\n
Indonesia invaded East Timor in 1975 after the departure of
\ncolonial rulers Portugal, annexing the territory a year later in
\na move never recognized by the UN.<\/p>",
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