DATE=9/14/1999
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=E. TIMOR / EVACUATION (L UPDATE)
NUMBER=2-253849
BYLINE=KYLE KING
DATELINE=JAKARTA
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: The United Nations has closed its
besieged compound in East Timor after evacuating
about 13-hundred frightened refugees from the
violence torn capital of Dili. Correspondent
Kyle King has this report from Jakarta.
Text: Refugees and U-N staff were taken by
convoy from the embattled U-N compound and flown
to the Australian city of Darwin.
The head of the U-N mission to East Timor told
reporters the compound is closed.
More than a thousand East Timorese had taken
refuge at the U-N facility, where they were
surrounded by gangs of marauding pro-Jakarta
militiamen.
U-N officials say the town has been completely
devastated by the militiamen, who went on a week
long orgy of violence and killing after the
results of last month's independence referendum
were announced.
An Australian aid agency says it may start
airdrops of humanitarian aid to the embattled
province as early as Wednesday. Hundreds-of-
thousands of East Timorese driven from their
homes by the violence are believed to be without
food or supplies.
Meanwhile, Indonesian President B-J Habibie has
told a group of visiting E-U ambassadors that
Indonesia is not putting any conditions on the
formation of an international peacekeeping force
for East Timor.
The comments follow repeated protests in front
of the Australian Embassy in Jakarta. So far
Australia is the only nation to step forward to
lead the proposed force, whose creation is being
debated at the United Nations in New York.
Japan's foreign minister says the international
community should take Indonesia's views into
account.
Some Indonesian political leaders say Australia
should stay out of the peacekeeping force to
avoid triggering further conflict with anti-
independence forces, which want East Timor to
remain part of Indonesia. (SIGNED)
NEB/KBK/RAE
14-Sep-1999 07:20 AM LOC (14-Sep-1999 1120 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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