More UN troops arrive in Dili

DILI, East Timor (JP): More than 1,000 heavily armed troops from the International Force for East Timor (Interfet) landed unopposed in this ravaged town on Monday.

Dozens of soldiers immediately began securing the airport area as soon as they disembarked from their aircraft, while others rested in shady areas in the vicinity. Later in the day some 50 troops took up positions in the city's port, where Australian warships HMAS Tobruk and HMAS Jarvis Bay will dock on Tuesday morning.

Spokesman for the Restoration Operation Command, Lt. Col. Willem Rampangile, told a media briefing after the dusk landing that the two ships, carrying logistics supplies and armed personnel carriers, delayed their arrival for a technical survey before docking.

Willem said 1,190 soldiers, mostly from Australia and New Zealand, arrived on Monday in 28 sorties. They were transported by 25 Hercules aircraft flights, one Falcon for Interfet commander Maj. Gen. Peter Cosgrove, a Sea King and one Grumman chopper.

"The flights will continue until tomorrow night and the total by tomorrow night is expected to reach 2,500," Willem said.

At least 10 Land Rovers mounted with machine guns and two armored personnel carriers were also seen disembarking from the aircraft.

Another group of peacekeepers landed in Baucau, some 150 kilometers east of here, for field orientation. The force, made up of American, Filipino, Thai and Singaporean troops, will fly back to Darwin to assess the number of further troops to be deployed in East Timor.

Cosgrove requested during a meeting with head of the restoration commander Maj. Gen. Kiki Syahnakri, East Timor Military Commander Col. Muhammad Noer Muis, local police chief Col. Timbul Silaen that several planes carrying more Interfet troops be allowed to land at Baucau's airport on Tuesday.

"Because of the dense air traffic, he asked if some of the flights could land at Baucau tomorrow morning, and I agreed because the apron in Dili airport can only handle three planes at a time," Syahnakri said, adding that the Interfet intended to finish deployment of its troops within two weeks.

In between, the commander of US forces in the multinational force for East Timor, Marine Corps Brig. Gen. John Castellaw, made a brief visit here to assess the situation ahead of the deployment of a US unit to handle airlift operations, Pentagon officials said.

"We're looking to move in a TALCE (tanker airlift control element) in the next day or two," a Pentagon official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told AFP.

The White House has said about 100 US troops would be deployed on the ground in East Timor, providing support and expertise rather than combat muscle.

Pentagon officials said about 125 US military personnel have arrived in Darwin, Australia, the force's staging area. They include about 75 intelligence analysts, 20 communications specialists, 21 logistics planners, and as many as six logistics specialists.

As more airplanes carrying international troops stream into here, the local military resort is preparing to vacate the territory, to make way for the UN-approved force.

Muis said his military resort would be handed over to Interfet. The military resort will be disbanded and established as a new resort in East Nusa Tenggara, he said.

He said 80 percent of the 7,000 troops and 5,000 police in the territory had already been pulled out.

As he was speaking, equipment and furniture from his headquarters were being loaded onto military trucks to be transported to Maumere and Ende in East Nusa Tenggara.

In Jakarta, Indonesian Military (TNI) spokesman Maj. Gen. Sudrajat said a proindependence militia commander claimed to have about 50,000 prointegration militiamen under his control.

"I heard from Eurico Guterres he has 50,000 men in East Timor, but please ask him again," military chief spokesman Maj. Gen. Sudrajat told reporters after a legislative meeting.

While addressing the House of Representatives, TNI chief Gen. Wiranto dismissed reports that thousands may have died in East Timor and instead said the death toll was under 100.

"The number of victims that we have recorded since the announcement of the result of the referendum is roughly in the 90s," Gen. Wiranto told the legislature.

"That is the number that we have recorded so far. It is not the tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands as reported by the foreign media."

Meanwhile, Canadian medical teams, pilots, mechanics and crew of two C-130-Hercules aircraft left a military base in Trenton on Monday on their way to Australia and then East Timor to join the UN-authorized multinational force there.

The troops -- who were to leave Canada Tuesday -- will not participate in ground missions but only in specific operations, Canada's defense ministry has said.

Their role will center on such activities as supply drops, troop transportation or evacuations of the sick and the injured.

The Protecteur supply ship, with 250 people and two Sea King helicopters aboard, was to leave British Columbia Thursday and arrive in the region in mid-October.

No decision had yet been made as to whether Canadian ground troops will take part in the multinational force. (byg/rms)