Government begins oparation to disarm militias
Government begins oparation to disarm militias
JAKARTA (JP): The government started operations on Thursday to disarm militias in West Timor with a local police chief saying that house-to-house searches for weapons would be extended until Saturday.
Coordinating Minister for Political, Social and Security Affairs Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said that police and military personnel had been deployed to refugee camps in West Timor to search for weapons.
"Police and military personnel are now on the ground to carry out sweeping operations," Susilo told journalists here after attending a Cabinet meeting.
Soldiers and police were seen on television on Thursday evening conducting shelter to shelter searches for weapons using metal detectors.
But late reports said that hours after they started searching not a single weapon had been found.
The UN Security Council and the international community has been pressuring Jakarta to disarm the militias since they hacked three unarmed UN aid workers to death in the West Timor border town of Atambua on Sept. 6.
Susilo said earlier that some pro-Jakarta militias were refusing to hand in their weapons.
He said on Thursday that "the best way for the militias" was "to cooperate" with security personnel during the search otherwise firm measures would be taken against them.
Susilo added that at least nine more weapons, including an American made M-16 assault rifle, had been handed over by the militias on Wednesday evening.
Antara reported that one battalion of police Mobile Brigade personnel had been deployed on Thursday morning to 11 police subprecincts in Belu regency to search for weapons.
The news agency added that two battalions of troops from the Army's Strategic Reserves Command (Kostrad) had also been deployed to a number of locations around Atambua since dawn to conduct weapons searches.
Belu police chief Supt. S.M. Simatupang was quoted by Antara as saying on Thursday morning that the search for weapons would continue until Saturday.
He said that repressive measures would have to be taken against the militias if within three days they fail to disarm.
The United States and the World Bank have warned that much needed economic aid could be at risk if Jakarta fails to disarm the militias.
On Tuesday the UN Security Council repeated a demand that Indonesia disband the militias after renewed threats to UN personnel at a weapons handover ceremony over the weekend.
Authorities say the militiamen have handed in more than 1,000 guns, but they are mostly crude, handmade weapons. Very few sophisticated, military-issue weapons have been given up.
Earlier in the day, Kostrad chief Lt. Gen. Ryamizard Ryacudu said it would be unlikely that the military would use force in disarming the militias due to close relationships between the two.
"We will only press them to disarm because of the emotional relationships," he said.
He added that, to be fair, members of the pro-independence Falintil paramilitary group in East Timor should also be disarmed.
Ryamizard denied reports that the militias in West Timor were still in possession of more than 1,000 modern weapons.
"It is not true because East Timorese refugees who went to West Timor by air and sea have been disarmed," he said, explaining that the guns which were recently handed over to the police were brought in by those who traveled overland for safety reasons. (byg/rms)