UN delays peacekeepers arrival in Dili

JAKARTA (JP): The United Nations has delayed the arrival of an advance team of the International Force in East Timor (Interfet), the Indonesian Military (TNI) said on Friday.

Head of the Restoration Operation Command in East Timor, Maj. Gen. Kiki Syahnakri, told reporters that he received a call from TNI Headquarters that Interfet Commander Maj. Gen. Peter Cosgrove would not come to Dili on Saturday as scheduled.

"The transfer of mandate to restore peace and order in East Timor from TNI to the multinational force remains hanging in the balance. I've received a call from Cilangkap (TNI Headquarters) that the advance team will not come by Saturday or early next week," Kiki said.

He said the fact that both TNI and the UN had yet to agree on the cooperation scheme might have caused the delay.

Cosgrove was scheduled to lead a 250-member advanced team, which would include 65 British Gurkhas, to Dili on Saturday. The first 2,000 of some 8,000 international soldiers were expected to follow the advance team in a couple of days.

"Ideally, the transfer of military command should take place a week after the main body of the UN multinational force sets foot in East Timor," Kiki said.

Despite the delay, the withdrawal of TNI troops continued on Friday. TNI said in a statement that some 8,000 troops in East Timor have left or were on their way out of the territory and entering the border town of Atambua in the western half of Timor island.

"The personnel of the Wiradarma Military Command in East Timor, which totals 8,000, joined by civil servants, have to immediately leave East Timor and head for the border," the statement said.

Military officials said earlier that 5,000 locally recruited East Timorese troops were withdrawn. It is believed that the remaining 3,000 were regular Indonesian troops.

Kiki said his troops blocked off all access to Dili to prevent pro-Jakarta militias from attacking the multinational force.

"We have set up a post in Tasitolu west of Dili, where we conduct a weapon search on everybody entering the capital," Kiki said.

From Washington, the White House warned that any attacks against UN peacekeepers in East Timor would be an "extraordinary miscalculation" but expressed confidence the troops would be able to defend themselves.

"The force will be at the appropriate level and will be able to respond to any threat to them," said spokesman Joe Lockhart.

President Bill Clinton announced on Thursday that the United States would provide "limited but essential" support and deploy about 200 troops to the Australian-led force.

Earlier in the day, TNI said East Timor was ready to receive the multinational force mandated by the UN Security Council to restore peace after weeks of bloodshed.

However, the military could not guarantee the safety of foreign journalists in East Timor amid growing anti-Western sentiment, Kiki said.

"It is not a problem of foreign journalists getting a permit to come to East Timor. It is just that security personnel cannot directly ensure their safety," he said.

"Many people in the territory are angry with their reporting and the perceived fraud by UNAMET," he said, referring to the UN Mission in East Timor sent to organize a ballot there on Aug. 30 in which residents voted against wide-ranging autonomy within Indonesia.

Hundreds of foreign journalists and photographers are trying to get to East Timor ahead of the anticipated arrival of the multinational force.

AFP said a group of more than 70 journalists, who planned to fly into Dili on Saturday on an Indonesian Military approved charter flight, interpreted the statement as a warning.

They decided to cancel their travel plans after the military issued its statement.

A waiver released by the military to be completed by journalists intending to travel to East Timor said the signatory "will personally bear responsibility for the risks if anything should happen while in East Timor".

Meanwhile, a UN spokesman said on Thursday that after surveying the damage in Baucau, some 100 kilometers east of Dili, the acting head of UNAMET, Brig. Gen. Rezaqul Haider of Bangladesh, concluded that houses used by the UN and homes of proindependence supporters were "apparently the main targets for looting and burning". (byg/rms)