DATE=9/27/1999
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=E. TIMOR HANDOVER (L-ONLY)
NUMBER=2-254350
BYLINE=PATRICIA NUNAN
DATELINE=JAKARTA
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: The Indonesian military has formally handed
over control of security in East Timor to the leaders
of the multi-national peacekeeping force. As Patricia
Nunan reports from Jakarta, the handover marks
Indonesia's first step towards moving out of the
territory since it invaded East Timor 24 years ago.
Text: At a ceremony in the Indonesian military
headquarters in the East Timorese capital Dili,
The commander of martial law in East Timor, General
Kiki Syahnakri formally handed responsibility for the
territory's security situation to the Australian-led
peacekeeping force.
Major General Peter Cosgrove of the Australian Defense
Forces will now be in charge.
The move follows an announcement made last week by
General Syahnakri that more than 11-thousand
Indonesian troops were leaving East Timor, with 45-
hundred ordered to stay on. But on Monday, the general
said just 15-hundred Indonesian soldiers would remain
in East Timor.
Prior to the formal handover, General Cosgrove said
that peacekeepers expected to be able to work with the
Indonesian military, or T-N-I troops that remained
behind.
/// COSGROVE ACT ///
No doubt at that time I would expect the full
cooperation of T-N-I in remaining very close to those
areas that they feel that they must protect, leaving
security in the broader sense to me, and ensuring that
weapons which are a very very valuable resource are
absolutely secured and are not available for any kind
of pilfering from dissident elements.
///END ACT ///
Australia is leading the international peacekeeping
mission in East Timor, launched last Monday in
response to widespread violence in East Timor. Armed
militia groups -- which are opposed to East Timorese
independence -- rampaged through the territory for two
weeks this month. The violence intensified after the
United Nations announced that the majority of East
Timorese voters decided the territory should separate
from Indonesia in a special referendum held in August.
Human rights workers fear that thousands of people may
have been killed in the violence. Hundreds of
thousands now face food shortages in refugee camps in
East Timor's interior and neighboring West Timor.
The United Nations was forced to withdraw all but a
few of its staff from East Timor because of the
violence.
But the withdrawal of Indonesian forces has not been
without difficulties. Troops set fire to a number of
barracks in order not to leave anything behind that
the East Timorese or the peacekeepers could use. With
the Indonesian military formally ceding control,
analysts fear that the militia groups -- which contain
some rogue elements of the Armed Forces -- could
launch revenge attacks on peacekeepers.
Indonesian authorities in East Timor remain in charge
of government departments, the airport and
telecommunications. All Indonesian troops are expected
to be withdrawn after the Indonesian government
formally declares East Timor independent in November.
(Signed)
NEB/PN/FC/PLM
27-Sep-1999 00:04 AM EDT (27-Sep-1999 0404 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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