Joanna Jolly in Dili and Agencies – United Nations peacekeepers are gearing up for further trouble from pro-Jakarta militiamen as the anniversary of the territory's independence vote draws nears.
Speaking a day after a Nepali soldier was killed in an attack by suspected militiamen 35km inside East Timor, an Indonesian Foreign Ministry spokesman said Jakarta's troops were powerless to prevent such infiltrations. A UN force spokesman said as many as 60 armed militiamen were believed to have crossed from West Timor into East Timor.
Intelligence sources in East Timor believe the militiamen, who have stepped up their attacks in the past two weeks, may be planning terrorist attacks to coincide with Indonesian National Day on Wednesday and the anniversary of last year's August 30 referendum which produced an overwhelming vote for independence.
"We have developed contingency plans should the situation deteriorate. We have a lot of anniversaries coming up this month and into September," Australian deputy UN commander Major-General Michael Smith said.
On Thursday, Nepali peacekeeper Devi Ram Jaishi, 26, was pronounced dead on arrival at a Dili hospital after being shot 14km northeast of the border town of Suai. He was the second peacekeeper to die in action. A second Nepali soldier was seriously injured and two others and a civilian hurt.
Peacekeeping spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel Brynjar Nymo said the militiamen who attacked the Nepali patrol were presumed to be part of a group of 25 to 30 which villagers in the area have recently encountered.
Indonesia has come under mounting international pressure to rein in the militiamen, who operate with near impunity in and around refugee camps just across the border. "We cannot give 100 per cent control," Foreign Ministry spokesman Sulaiman Abdulmanan said.
Foreign Minister Alwi Shihab said the only solution to the militia problem was to close the camps, which still house 80,000 of the 250,000 East Timorese who fled or were forced across the border amid last year's militia rampage. Indonesia promised last month to shut the camps, and Mr Shihab said Jakarta was drawing up plans.
Refugee repatriations have been halted because of militia intimidation, and yesterday machete-wielding militiamen laid siege to UN and aid agency offices in the border town of Atambua.
Discussing possible links between the militiamen and the Indonesian military, General Smith said this had not been proved. He added: "We do know, however, that in recent militia activity the standard of soldiering of some is very high ... [Militia forces now are] far better trained and equipped than what we saw [in September] last year."