Joanna Jolly in Darwin and Irwan Firdaus of Associated Press in Baucau – As international troops prepare to go into East Timor, fearful refugees are coming down from the mountains in the territory and returning to homes still smouldering and in ruins.

When the peacekeepers arrive in East Timor they will find a hostile, difficult terrain still largely in the control of pro-autonomy militia despite a heavy presence of Indonesian soldiers (TNI).

Witness reports from Dili yesterday said although the situation was calmer than a few days ago, with less shooting heard on the streets, militia were still in evidence in the capital.

But they appeared to be involved in an organised operation to remove as much looted property as they could from the territory before the deployment of the international force.

"Militia appear to be moving out of town with cargo," said a member of the 12-member United Nations Assistance Mission in East Timor (Unamet) team still operating in Dili.

"There are fewer gangs of militia. A lot are protecting cargo trucks and coming back to reload." The Unamet team was able to carry out a patrol through the city yesterday and check on the situation of refugees sheltering at the dock. They reported that there were still several fires burning and shots being fired, but there was a decrease in violent activity.

Unamet reported yesterday that TNI was patrolling the streets to secure areas of Dili. "They are working professionally and appear to be doing proper patrol formations," the Unamet staff member said.

East Timor's second-largest town, Bacau, has begun showing signs of life again. Vendors squatted on the street outside the gutted market to sell vegetables, fruit and cigarettes.

"No one thought it would happen like this," said Bishop Basilio da Nascimento, still stunned at the violence that followed East Timor's vote for independence. Hundreds of Indonesian troops were flown out yesterday in advance of the arrival of an Australia-led international peacekeeping force.

But enough troops remained behind to maintain order in Baucau, 200km east of Dili. Knots of soldiers were posted every few hundred metres along Baucau's main road. New units replaced soldiers implicated in the unrest, helping restore confidence among townspeople.

"I have stopped the firing by everybody, including the police, militia and ordinary people, and now the situation is calm," said Colonel Irwan Kusnadi, the operations commander for Baucau.