DATE=10/10/1999
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=EAST TIMOR CLASHES (L-O)
NUMBER=2-254854
BYLINE=GARY THOMAS
DATELINE=DILI
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: Australian peacekeepers and pro-Jakarta
militias have clashed in East Timor, near the border
with West Timor. Meanwhile, humanitarian efforts to
repatriate the thousands of East Timorese who fled
militia violence have received a boost. Correspondent
Gary Thomas is in the East Timor capital.
TEXT: Australian military patrols are making
increasingly frequent hostile contact with pro-Jakarta
militiamen in East Timor.
Colonel Mark Kelly, spokesman for the International
force for East Timor, known as Interfet, says
militiamen were engaged in a sweep near the border
with West Timor when they came upon an Interfet patrol
Saturday.
He said the peacekeepers had no choice but to return
fire. One militiaman was killed. Another clash was
reported (Sunday) in which two men were wounded. It
is unclear if the wounded were militiamen or
Australian soldiers. Indonesian troops have been
backing the militias.
Colonel Kelly said Saturday's action demonstrates the
militias -- who are bitterly unhappy with East Timor's
pending separation from Indonesia -- are taking more
offensive actions.
He pointed out the latest action follows last
Wednesday's clash, in which two militiamen were killed
and two soldiers from Interfet were wounded.
// KELLY ACTUALITY //
The firing on the Interfet vehicle patrol three-nights
ago in Suai was certainly an aggressive action on the
part of the militia which led to two fatalities in
that contact, and this is another example of
aggression being shown by those militia elements in
the western region.
// END ACTUALITY //
Colonel Kelly says Interfet continues to hold out what
he calls -- the hand of friendship to the militias, to
promote reconciliation.
But the hand of friendship is backed by a fist. Two
hundred-50 soldiers and 40 armored vehicles arrived
from Australia, Sunday, bringing the Interfet force to
65-hundred troops.
It is the largest deployment of an Australian military
force overseas since the Vietnam War.
The militias went on a rampage following the August
30th referendum in which more than 85-percent of East
Timorese voted in favor of independence from
Indonesia, which invaded the former Portuguese colony
in 1975 and annexed it one-year later.
Thousands of East Timorese fled the militia onslaught,
with many of them ending up in camps in West Timor.
More than 250-thousand Timorese are believed to be
homeless because of the violence.
Humanitarian assistance coordinator Michel Barton says
Indonesia has agreed to let U-N aid workers register
East Timorese for repatriation, without Indonesian
officials being present.
Calling it a very significant breakthrough, Mr. Barton
said refugees can now state their preference of
whether they wish to return to East Timor or remain
under Indonesian control, without the intimidation of
militias or their Indonesian allies. (SIGNED).
NEB/WD-T/RAE
10-Oct-1999 08:51 AM EDT (10-Oct-1999 1251 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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