DATE=8/2/2000
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=TIMOR / U-N (L-O)
NUMBER=2-265071
BYLINE=LARRY FREUND
DATELINE=NEW YORK
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: The United Nations says Australian troops in
East Timor - part of the U-N peacekeeping force there
- have shot and killed two armed members of the East
Timorese militia. Correspondent Larry Freund reports
from New York the incident occurred near the
border with West Timor.
TEXT: A gun battle between an Australian patrol and
the East Timorese militia took place, according to the
United Nations, about 10-kilometers from East Timor's
border with West Timor, which is part of Indonesia. A
U-N spokesman says the troops had been tracking
militia near the town of Maliana and encountered a
group of four to five militiamen armed with rifles and
grenades. Two of the men were shot and killed. No U-
N peacekeepers were injured.
Sergio Vieira de Mello, the top U-N official in East
Timor, says the incident is important because it
indicates the militia remain active. He says it is
the first time the U-N peacekeeping force in East
Timor successfully engaged a militia group at a short
distance, and the first time it had killed a
militiaman. He said the peacekeepers' rules of
engagement are being applied in the border area
without the slightest hesitation.
U-N spokesman Manoel de Alemeida e Silva:
/// ALEMEIDA E SILVA ACT ///
The force commander, Lieutenant General
Boonsrang Niumpradit, said that the actions by
United Nations troops today should send a signal
across the border to make militia members think
twice before placing human lives in jeopardy.
/// END ACT ///
Last week, members of the pro-Jakarta militia shot and
killed a U-N peacekeeper from New Zealand in the
border area. He was the first casualty in the
international peacekeeping mission. The more than -
thousand U-N troops and civilian police began
operations in East Timor last September, following a
backlash from the militia when the territory voted for
independence from Indonesia.
U-N officials say the militia groups also are
operating around refugee camps in West Timor, engaging
in intimidation of the refugees from East Timor. The
United Nations has asked Indonesia to go beyond the
measures it has taken and disarm the militia
completely and remove them from the refugee camps.
(SIGNED)
NEB/NY/LSF/RAE
1
1
02-Aug-2000 14:37 PM EDT (02-Aug-2000 1837 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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