East Timorese cheer troop arrivals

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.