Max Stahl, Dare – This once peaceful hill station overlooking Dili was turned into a death site at the weekend as Indonesian forces surrounded and fired on terrified refugees living rough in nearby plantations. Dare, once a popular resort for Portuguese colonists escaping the heat of the coastal capital six miles away, is today a scene of misery and terror.

Some 30,000 people, mainly women, children and the elderly, who were forced from their homes by the pro-Indonesian militias and the Indonesian Army, have erected shacks and home-made tents to escape the carnage in the below.

But on Saturday afternoon the deceptive tranquillity here was broken by the rumble of a column of military vehicles coming up the road. Normally the military's dirty work is conducted by the pro-Jakarta militiamen or soldiers dressed as militia. This time, however, the troops made no effort to conceal their identity.

A detachment of more than 100 Indonesian marines emerged from the lorries and then deployed, fanning out through the banana and coffee crops. Although there are no armed pro-independence forces here the marines did not seem to notice. They opened fire without provocation, killing a woman. Her body slumped over her handicapped husband, who was pinned beneath her.

Calling out for the people to "surrender", the marines did not seem surprised when the only people to emerge with their hands in the air were mothers and children. The incident served to prove graphically that despite repeated assurances from Jakarta, troops on the ground are carrying out very different orders.

Yesterday a German Jesuit priest, Father Karl Albrecht, was the latest victim when he was shot outside the Jesuit residence in Dili.

There are very real fears that in the time it takes to negotiate the make-up of a international force, Jakarta will be able to finish the brutal job of clearing the local population.