More UN troops arrive in Dili

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)