Two militiamen killed in East Timor clashes

Two militiamen killed in East Timor clashes

JAKARTA (JP): The Australian led multinational force in East
Timor on Wednesday killed two militiamen in the first clashes
since they began their mission in the territory.

Maj. Gen. Peter Cosgrove, commander of the International Force
for East Timor (Interfet), said in East Timor's capital of Dili
that the militia fighters were shot dead when they ambushed an
Interfet convoy near the town of Suai.

The Australian troops were injured, but not seriously,
Cosgrove said. They were evacuated to Dili and may be taken to
Darwin, Australia.

Troops from Britain and New Zealand were also in the convoy,
Cosgrove said.

"This is the first time that Interfet soldiers have been
wounded directly by enemy action," Cosgrove said as quoted by
AFP.

"It is the first time that Interfet have regrettably been
called upon to take lethal action against an adversary."

The clash happened at 5:25 p.m. local time and took place
inside the area Interfet was mandated to secure, Cosgrove said.

"It was well and truly a sneak attack," the Australian
commanding officer said.

Earlier in the day, two militia members were wounded in the
legs when they tried to speed through an Interfet roadblock, he
added. Interfet troops opened fire, shooting out the militia
vehicle's tires.

Two other militiamen were slightly injured in the incident.

A number of militia from the group that had tried to run the
roadblock were then taken to a drop-off point. It was as the
peacekeepers returned from dropping the militiamen off at a
location which Cosgrove did not specify that the Interfet convoy
was ambushed.

Wednesday's incident was the first sign militia members were
actually prepared to take on the heavily-armed troops in the
Australian-led force.

Meanwhile Bishop Carlos Felipe Ximenes Belo made an emotional
return to his devastated homeland on Wednesday after fleeing East
Timor at the height of violance following the Aug. 30 ballot.

The Roman Catholic bishop smiled broadly as he was embraced by
nuns, priests and a handful of others after he stepped off a
private flight from Darwin, Australia.

AP reported that after arriving in Dili, he later departed for
the eastern city of Baucau to meet the territory's other Catholic
bishop Basilio do Nascimento.

Later in the afternoon Belo, guarded by two members of the
Australian special forces armed with submachine guns equipped
with silencers, returned to his Dili house.

Col. Mark Kelly, chief of staff for the Australian-led
peacekeeping force known as Interfet, said his troops would
provide protection for the bishop.

Belo is the first major figure to return to the territory.
Resistance leader Jose Alexandre "Xanana" Gusmao has set his
homecoming for mid-October.

People who have returned from their hideouts in the hills
surrounding Dili have started clearing debris from their ruined
houses and rebuilding their devastated hometown.

A Dili native, Fabliano dos Santos, told The Jakarta Post by
phone on Wednesday that some of the residents found decomposed
bodies dumped in ditches while clearing up their properties. But
he did not elaborate when and where these finds took place.

"We will continue the clearance of our town, while expecting
to discover more bodies. I believe the incoming UN High
Commission on Human Rights mission will find a lot of bodies," he
said.

Like many other East Timorese who descended from hills,
Fabliano has occupied a house which was left vacant by its owner.
Fabliano's house in Fatuhada subdistrict in the western part of
Dili was burned down during the rampaging violence last month.

UNTAET

From Sydney, AFP quoted Australian Foreign Minister Alexander
Downer as saying that the country planned to scale back its
contribution to international peacekeeping duties in East Timor
as the UN took over the running.

UN Secretary General Kofi Annan recommended on Tuesday the
establishment of a major UN military and civilian operation as
part of a plan to shepherd East Timor to independence in two to
three years.

He proposed a UN Transitional Administration in East Timor
(UNTAET) to include almost 9,000 troops with strong powers as
well as 200 military observers and more than 1,500 police.

Australia now has 3,500 troops in East Timor out of a force
currently totaling 4,600, but building up to 7,500 with
contributions from New Zealand, Britain, France, Canada, the
United States, Brazil, Philippines, Malaysia, Thailand and South
Korea.

"It is certainly the view of the Australian government that we
would like to see the move to the fully fledged United Nations
peacekeeping operation as soon as possible," Downer said.

"It is hard to predict when that will happen but conceivably
that could be in two or three months, perhaps nearer three than
two months."

Meanwhile, a first contingent of troops from Thailand, the
second in command of Interfet, arrived in Dili on Wednesday. The
78 troops flew in to the East Timor capital on two C-130 Hercules
transporter planes from Darwin, northern Australia.

The contingent included the second in command of the force
Maj. Gen. Songkitti Jaggabatara, a Thai army spokesman in Bangkok
told AFP. Thailand is contributing some 1,581 troops to the
mission.

Thai soldiers had taken up positions in Dili by late
afternoon, witnesses said.

With security conditions in the former Portuguese colony
showing improvement, the government will start on Friday the
repatriation of East Timorese seeking refuge in West Timor.

Spokesman for the East Nusa Tenggara administration, Nani
Kosapilawan, told Antara in Kupang that seven Cabinet ministers,
12 ambassadors of neighboring countries and representatives of
some international nongovernmental organizations would see off
the refugees.

Kosapilawan said the foreign envoys and international NGO
staff were invited to the event and could expect to witness
themselves what actually will happen to the refugees. (33/amd)