Military vows to stop militia incursions

Military vows to stop militia incursions

JAKARTA (JP): A senior Army general pledged on Thursday to
beef up security to stop militia incursions into the East Timor
enclave of Oecussi.

"TNI (the Indonesian Military) will send about two companies
of reinforcement troops because there are only 52 troops now in
the border area between Oecussi and East Nusa Tenggara," chief of
the Udayana Military Command Maj. Gen. Kiki Syahnakri told The
Jakarta Post by phone from Denpasar, Bali.

He added that he would replace a number of military officers
in the border area as they were considered to be "slow and
unresponsive".

Kiki, who oversees security in Bali, East and West Nusa
Tenggara, was speaking after meeting with the International Force
in East Timor (INTERFET) commander, Maj. Gen. Peter Cosgrove, in
the East Timorese town of Batugade earlier in the morning.

Militias have clashed with foreign troops in the coastal
enclave of Oecussi, surrounded on three sides by East Nusa
Tenggara, several times recently.

Kiki said the incursions were sometimes triggered by "business
motives" as militias smuggled food and other basic necessities to
sell in the enclave.

"It's very difficult and expensive to get basic necessities in
Oecussi, so a number of people (in East Nusa Tenggara) are
tempted to bring in and sell food supplies," Kiki said.

Kiki conceded that some military personnel may have been
involved.

However, he said that UN and Indonesian officials should
immediately discuss the issue of cross-border trade as there was
a great need for incoming supplies in several areas of East
Timor.

Kiki also said that more than 170,000 East Timorese were still
sheltered in refugee camps in East Nusa Tenggara.

Some 240,000 people had reportedly fled East Timor to various
locations in neighboring East Nusa Tenggara after the violence
which resulted following the Aug. 30 self-determination ballot.

In a related development, Foreign Minister Alwi Shihab in
Jakarta expressed confidence that China and Russia would use
their veto rights should the United Nations Security Council try
to establish an international tribunal to try Indonesian officers
allegedly responsible for the post-ballot mayhem in East Timor.

His confidence was based on a recent meeting with UN envoys
during a visit to New York.

He said he told UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan that Indonesia
would prove that its own government-sanctioned commission would
suffice demands for an inquiry on the violence. (byg)