UN peacekeepers clash with militia in E. Timor
UN peacekeepers clash with militia in E. Timor
DILI (Agencies): Australian peacekeepers exchanged fire with armed militia in the East Timor border area on Tuesday, the eve of the anniversary of the territory's independence vote, senior UN officials said.
No casualties were reported on either side, Lt. Col. Brynjar Nymo, spokesman for the UN peacekeeping force, told AFP here. Nymo said an Australian patrol spotted "two individuals in camouflage (uniforms), at least one of them with a rifle," and challenged them.
"The militia fired and the Australians returned fire," he said, adding the incident took place about 12:40 p.m. (11:40 a.m. Jakarta time), some 10 kilometers northeast of the township of Maliana.
Maliana lies 75 kilometers southwest of Dili.
Earlier Sergio Vieira de Mello, the head of the UN transitional Administration in East Timor (UNTAET) told AFP the militia had pointed weapons at the Australians.
De Mello warned that peacekeepers would take tough action against pro-Jakarta militiamen roaming the territory if they refuse to lay down their weapons.
He said he hoped some of the estimated 120 militiamen operating in East Timor would surrender soon and go back to their villages.
UN military officials say the pro-Jakarta militias, possibly supported by rogue elements of the Indonesian military in neighboring West Timor, have entered East Timor in greater force than at any time since they were forced out by the arrival of foreign troops late last year.
De Mello on Tuesday had said in a televised interview with Australian media that he would press Indonesian leaders this week to take immediate action against militias still terrorizing the East Timorese.
De Mello also said UN forces would launch a leaflet drop on Tuesday to advise any militia in East Timor to surrender or face arrest within weeks.
"We hope finally the Indonesian government will take the action we have been expecting from them since we arrived here in October of last year, which is to disarm them, to disband them, to arrest them and to transfer them away from our borders," he said.
"The inviolability of international borders is a sacrosanct principle of international law which the militia are violating because they are thugs and because they have nothing else to offer except the language of force and violence," he told Australian television.
He said UN forces estimated there are 100 to 150 militia men in East Timor where they have killed or wounded a number of UN personnel in recent weeks.
"We are attempting to establish what their intentions are. We hope that some if not many of them will agree to lay down their arms and surrender.
UN peacekeepers have stepped up patrols in the border areas of East Timor in anticipation they will try to stage dramatic incidents to derail festivities set for Wednesday to celebrate the first anniversary of East Timor's vote to separate from Indonesia.
On Aug. 30, 1999, an overwhelming 78.5 percent of East Timorese voted for independence, the announcement of which on Sept. 4 unleashed a wave of violence against East Timorese.