Heather Paterson, Aileu – They fought a desperate jungle war against Indonesia's occupation for a quarter of a century. Now, one year after East Timor broke free, they have no place to go and nothing to do.
In the village of Aileu, 12 miles southwest of East Timor's capital Dili, about 800 guerrillas of the rebel group Falintil lounge around a dusty parade ground and smoke cigarettes. Half a dozen in faded uniforms, automatic rifles slung over their backs, tinker with a dilapidated army truck. Others tend vegetable patches or do other chores. A few chat with UN officials assigned to keep an eye on them.
It's very different from their days of daring cat-and-mouse combat against the vastly superior Indonesian army. Outnumbered and outgunned, Falintil used its knowledge of the land and the near-universal support of the population to survive repeated Indonesian offensives. "Now we are bored and feel useless," said Koli Ati, a guerrilla commander.
But this could change soon. As East Timor prepares for statehood during the next 18 months, Falintil – a Portuguese acronym for the Armed Forces of the National Liberation of East Timor – is to be transformed from a ragtag rebel group into the nucleus of a new and professional defense force, UN officials said. Once UN peacekeepers begin pulling out, the new army will assume responsibility for the fledgling nation's security.
On Wednesday, Falintil fighters will be feted as heroes when East Timor's 600,000 people mark the first anniversary of a UN-sponsored referendum that ended 24 years of Indonesian rule.
That independence vote sparked an orgy of violence by militias backed by the Indonesian military, ending only with the entry of international peacekeepers. With elements of the Indonesian army still unreconciled to the loss of the territory, Falintil may see renewed combat soon.
As a first step, some Falintil fighters are to be recruited by the UN force as scouts along East Timor's troubled border with Indonesian-controlled West Timor, the scene of a spate of recent clashes between the peacekeepers and anti-independence militiamen.
On Tuesday, Australian peacekeepers exchanged gunfire with two militiamen near the border. No one was injured in the clash and the militiamen escaped, peacekeeping spokesman Col. Brynar Nymo said.
"Falintil knows the terrain better than anyone else, certainly better than our troops," said East Timor's UN administrator Sergio Vieira de Mello. "Falintil will be the backbone. They will be the core of the new East Timor defense force," he said. "They will have a key role, a crucial role to play in defending this country."
Some independence leaders want the guerrillas to do more. Independence leader Jose "Xanana" Gusmao has reportedly suggested that his men conduct raids into Indonesian West Timor to root out militia base camps there – an option De Mello rules out.
"We should not be using the same tactics as thugs and criminals," he said. "Violating international borders is contrary to international law." During and after the August 1999 referendum, Falintil kept its promise to the United Nations to remain in its camps. But it has since refused several UN requests to disarm.
After the former colonial ruler Portugal left East Timor, Indonesia invaded in 1975, prompting the Falintil guerrilla war. The guerrillas used their superior military training to run rings around Indonesia's US-trained special forces, called Kopassus, that tried to hunt them down. Human rights groups claim as many as 200,000 people, mostly civilians, died in the first years after the invasion.
UN officers believe rogue elements of Kopassus are still active in West Timor, training and arming militia gangs that are now crossing the border to destabilize East Timor.
On Tuesday, peacekeepers deployed reinforcements to the central highlands in an attempt to corner a gang of militiamen thought to be hiding out in the area.
Falintil's current commander, Taur Matan Ruak, said all this proves a strong East Timorese force is necessary to deter aggression. "We need only look around us and see on our doorstep what is happening," he said. "Our border is being threatened, and some militiamen have come back and they are causing deep concerns."