TNI asked to help prevent E. Timor border skirmishes

TNI asked to help prevent E. Timor border skirmishes

JAKARTA (JP): The head of the United Nations Transitional
Administration in East Timor (UNTAET), Lt. Gen. Jaime de los
Santos, is calling on the Indonesian Military (TNI) to help
prevent cross-border attacks into East Timor.

But during separate meetings with the TNI and government
officials on Thursday and Friday, De los Santos acknowledged that
the activities of militias in Indonesian territory were not
connected with TNI.

"The involvement of TNI is proven to be untrue," he said after
meeting with Minister of Foreign Affairs Alwi Shihab here on
Thursday.

"There is no involvement of TNI in terms of training or in
terms of coordination," he said.

There have reportedly been 16 incidents in the last three
weeks near the border between East Timor and East Nusa Tenggara.
The incidents allegedly were perpetrated by prointegration
militias working from the western half of Timor island.

The armed groups have killed at least one East Timorese in the
incidents.

Alwi said on Friday President Abdurrahman Wahid was "concerned
and unhappy" with reports of reported militia attacks from East
Nusa Tenggara.

According to Alwi, the president has called on the Indonesian
Military to take firm measures to disarm and prevent militias
from engaging in cross-border attacks from Indonesian territory.

"He called on the minister of defense and TNI commander
immediately to take necessary actions to prevent this," Alwi
said.

Quoting Abdurrahman, Alwi said the government would not
tolerate such illegal incidents.

"We don't want this issue to be somehow used as an excuse to
say that Indonesia is not serious in handling the refugees and
its relationship with East Timor," Alwi told journalists before
departing for Saudi Arabia for the haj pilgrimage.

Over 100,000 refugees from East Timor remain sheltered in the
western half of the island, leading to a high degree of activity
along the border.

De los Santos met with TNI Commander Adm. Widodo A.S. and
Udayana Military Commander Maj. Gen. Kiki Syahnakri on Friday to
discuss the issue.

TNI spokesman Air Rear Marshall Graito Usodo said Widodo was
concerned about the reports of increased militia activity and
pledged to evaluate the situation.

According to Graito, Widodo did not rule out the possibility
of deploying more troops along the border.

Speaking to The Jakarta Post and Antara news agency late on
Thursday, Kiki said TNI detected an escalation of militia
activity following a congress of prointegration fighters in
Kupang, East Nusa Tenggara, on Feb. 26.

Participants of the gathering agreed to form an organization
called the United Timorese Heroes (UNTAS), he said.

But Kiki asserted TNI was doing its best to ensure that armed
attacks did not occur along the border, saying the military was
carrying out intensive patrols.

"Recently we confiscated three weapons. Two were homemade guns
and one was a Mauser," Kiki said, referring to a type of rifle
which was widely used during the Portuguese colonial era.

Kiki further noted that security along the border should be a
shared responsibility, not merely TNI's.

"I have repeatedly appealed (to the UN authorities) to
increase joint patrols in the area.

"They have all the modern equipment that can be used. They
have Blackhawks (helicopters), night goggles and sophisticated
radar," Kiki said.

According to Kiki, TNI has 689 soldiers deployed along the
155-kilometer border on the western half of Timor island.

"Our numbers are limited while we have a wide area to cover.
The number of our troops is far smaller than the number of
peacekeeping troops," he said after arriving in Jakarta on
Thursday evening.

Meanwhile in Makassar, South Sulawesi, Air Rear Marshal
Alimunsiri Rappe Alimunsiri, the Eastern Air Force operations
commander, said that planes from the air forces of Australia and
other nations were often detected violating Indonesian airspace.

He said Air Force radar had detected at least 10 illegal
flights in the last two months.

The Australian government officially denied allegations last
month that its planes had violated Indonesian airspace.
(emf/dja/27)