East Timorese cheer troop arrivals

By Budiman Moerdijat

DILI, East Timor (JP): Hundreds of East Timorese left refugee enclaves in surrounding hills on Tuesday to greet warships bringing more International Force for East Timor (Interfet) troops.

About 100 troops in battle gear filed out of the Jervis Bay naval ship at about 7:10 a.m. local time to the cheers of some 200 refugees sheltering at the seaport. The ship also carried logistic supplies and armored personnel carriers (APC).

The second ship arrived over an hour later but anchored 400 meters from the wharf, sending an amphibious craft to the shoreline carrying five soldiers.

A man in his sixties took off his red and white scarf, the colors of Indonesia's flag, and stepped all over it. Other refugees followed his act, although they were wearing proautonomy shirts and hats.

One of the refugees, Alfredo Soares, who was sheltering at the port for two weeks after his house was burned down by Indonesian Military-backed militias, said, "We're glad the Australian troops have arrived because they are here to protect us and we can have our peace."

Meanwhile, hundreds of proindependence supporters descended from the hills in Dare, some 15 kilometers south of here, where they were hiding, to watch the arrival of the Interfet troops at the seaport.

Manuel, 25, said: "Hundreds of my friends and I left Dare and walked to Dili to see Interfet's arrival. We're happy that Interfet arrived and we hope they can bring us peace. Maybe in the next few days, there will be thousands more coming down from the hills after receiving formal instructions (from leaders of the Falintil armed wing)."

Manuel said his house at Villa Verde was burned down on Sept. 4 by pro-Jakarta militias. He was wearing a National Council for East Timor Resistance (CNRT) badge on his chest and yelled "shoot the militia" at the Interfet troops.

Interfet Commander Maj. Gen. Peter Cosgrove was aboard the first ship. Upon the ship's arrival, the troops immediately began unloading logistic supplies and pulling containers by an armored personal carrier to a warehouse some 100 meters from the dock.

They unloaded four-wheelers, metal containers of bottled water and cases of medicine. They used cranes to lift generators.

During the unloading process, they were guarded by some 50 Interfet troops and Indonesian soldiers. A couple of Australian troops wearing wetsuits rode in two motor dinghies, securing the water.

On the ground, Indonesian Marines checked passersby with a handheld metal detector.

When the second landing ship, the Balikpapan, berthed, it unloaded an excavator, bulldozer and truck.

The Australian troops began to patrol the town along Kelapa beach, near Audian stadium and along Jl. 15 Oktober.

They stopped passersby and motorists to search for weapons. In doing so, sometimes the multinational troops pointed their automatic arms at people.

At Komoro Airport, a group of Australian soldiers were seen arresting two proautonomy militiamen who possessed sharp weapons. The two men were handcuffed and dragged into a room in the airport compound.

The airport was completely taken over by Australian troops. They were seen setting up communication facilities. There were at least three medical tents at the end of the airport and tents for troops were on the right and left side of the runway.

Hercules aircraft were still dropping troops, and at around 4 p.m Dili, four Black Hawk helicopters were seen coming and going.

The Matadouro area near the destroyed United Nations Mission in East Timor (UNAMET) compound was blocked by the Indonesian Army Strategic Reserve Command (Kostrad) and Gurkhas troops. Some journalists were prevented from entering the compound.

Commander of the restoration operation, Maj. Gen. Kiki Syahnakri, said Interfet and the Indonesian Military (TNI) had conducted joint patrols and operations to secure vital public facilities.

Kiki also said chief of Soibada military sector Capt. IGK Hartawan, who was abducted by an unidentified group earlier this month, was safe. "He is with a local Catholic priest and (Falintil leader) Taur Matan Ruak. He will be released soon," Kiki said.

Most foreign journalists checked into the Turismo hotel. The hotel, which also accommodated foreign journalists in the run-up to the Aug. 30 ballot, was reportedly planned to be the Interfet headquarters. Its main entrance was tightly guarded by two Australian troops and a U.S. marine. Reporters not on the list were not allowed to enter.

Cosgrove said on Tuesday the multinational force would stage its second major landing on Wednesday.

"It will still be a number of weeks rather than days before we are in a position to have a pervasive presence through the province," Cosgrove told reporters.

He said the territory could not yet be declared safe and he was still concerned about possible violence by the pro-Indonesia militias.

"It's too early for us to assert that the security situation overall is anything near approaching benign," Cosgrove said. But he added: "Where we stand we are having an effect."

With the security condition in East Timor gradually improving, TNI Commander Gen. Wiranto indicated lifting the military emergency status in the territory.

"With the safe situation (in East Timor), it is now time for the military emergency status in East Timor to be downgraded to its previous normal condition," Gen. Wiranto said after a hearing at the House of Representatives on Tuesday.

"The TNI has already reported to the President and we now have to wait for the decision," he said.

Indonesia imposed martial law on Sept. 7 in East Timor in a last-ditch effort to stop violence. President B.J. Habibie finally agreed on Sept. 12 that Indonesia would accept the deployment of a multinational peacekeeping force.