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DATE=9/29/00

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

NUMBER=2-267233

TITLE=INDONESIA-TIMOR DISARMAMENT(L)

BYLINE=GARY THOMAS

DATELINE=BANGKOK

CONTENT=

VOICED AT:

INTRO: An operation by Indonesian security forces to disarm marauding militias in West Timor has produced meager results. Only a small fraction of the weapons believed to be held by the militias has been recovered. VOA Southeast Asia correspondent Gary Thomas reports.

TEXT: Two days into a supposed crackdown on the West Timor militias, Indonesian security forces say they netted only 16 weapons and those were surrendered voluntarily.

Although officials pledged to take the weapons away by force if necessary, there was no sign Friday of any attempt by Indonesian troops and police to directly confront the militias. Troops searched three camps housing refugees from East Timor but turned up nothing.

Peter Kessler, a spokesman in East Timor for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, or U-N-H-C-R, labeled the Indonesian efforts so far "disappointing." Speaking from Dili, the East Timorese capital, he said it is certain that there are many more weapons still in militia hands.

/// KESSLER ACT ///

More of concern is that the militias are still there. They haven't been disarmed, they haven't been disbanded, and they haven't been removed to other locations in Indonesia. And that is destabilizing the entire region not just East Timor, but the refugee camps and the refugee hosting communities in Western Timor.

/// END ACT ///

Indonesia has been under intense pressure from the international community to disarm and disband the militias. But Indonesia has so far proved to be either unwilling or unable to do so.

The militias were formed with help from some Indonesian army elements - to quell pro-independence sentiment in East Timor. They terrorized East Timor after it voted for independence last year, then moved to West Timor, where they continue to intimidate some 120-thousand East Timorese refugees and harass U-N peacekeepers on the border. Militia bands killed three U-N-H-C-R aid workers in Atambua, West Timor on September sixth.

Mr. Kessler said there was a bright spot of news: 72 refugees crossed back into East Timor Friday. That is, he says, nearly a third of the total number of refugees who have returned to East Timor in all of September.

/// KESSLER ACT TWO ///

We have had some good signs, and that is that 72 people have crossed. And that means that the militias' stranglehold on the refugee sites is weakening. But much, much more should be done.

/// END ACT //

International aid agencies pulled out of West Timor after the murders of the U-N aid workers because of the lack of security for their employees. (signed)

NEB/HK/GPT/JO/PFH