Interfet ready to take command of East Timor
Interfet ready to take command of East Timor
JAKARTA (Agencies): The International Force for East Timor (Interfet) readied on Saturday to assume full military command of East Timor as the Indonesian Military pressed ahead with its withdrawal.
The Australian-led Interfet is due to formally take charge of the territory by Monday.
The Indonesian command has said the remaining 4,500 Indonesian soldiers would pull out during next month, following the departure by Friday of 7,000 troops.
Heavily armed Australian soldiers, meanwhile, combed the East Timor capital of Dili for militiamen, while helicopters overhead covered the ground operations.
Increasing numbers of refugees were returning to the town, which they fled three weeks ago after the territory was wracked with violence following the Aug. 30 ballot in which a majority rejected Indonesia's offer of autonomy.
More United States troops may join the multinational peacekeeping force, which has still to assert its authority much beyond Dili.
Washington has so far committed 230 troops to Interfet.
The current strength of the multinational force is estimated at 3,000 soldiers and will eventually rise to about 7,500.
The commander of U.S. forces in the Pacific, Adm. Dennis Blair, indicated additional commitments would be made when defense secretary William Cohen visits Australia next week.
However, he would not estimate how many more might be sent.
The Clinton administration has not specified how many troops it might contribute to the UN mission, but officials have indicated it would be no more than several hundred. The administration has said it would limit U.S. participation to support rather than combat.
Blair, in remarks to reporters at the Pentagon, said he was pleased with Australia's execution so far of the peacekeeping effort in East Timor. He predicted that peace would be restored "within weeks" in the region and said the Indonesian military had "by and large been cooperating".
Cohen was also to visit Jakarta next week for talks with President B.J. Habibie and military commander Gen. Wiranto.
Lower-level officials from Cohen's travel party are expected to make a quick visit to Dili while he is in the region.
In Manila, the Philippines sent a second batch of soldiers on Saturday to join the multinational peacekeeping force in East Timor.
The 113-member contingent, more than half comprising army engineers, doctors and dentists, will join the first group of 127 who left Manila a week earlier.
Separately, East Timorese resistance leader Jose Alexandre "Xanana" Gusmao, who fled to Darwin from Jakarta last week, left for New York on Saturday to meet with World Bank officials.