Jakarta – The US military chief for the Pacific Tuesday said the Indonesian armed forces should account for the 1999 violence in East Timor before they can resume full military cooperation with Washington.

"We are ready to resume the full range of bilateral cooperation, when the military reforms which the TNI [the Indonesian armed forces] is undertaking reach maturity," Admiral Dennis Blair told students of Indonesia's military think-tank, the National Resilience Institute.

"The primary criteria [for the resumption] is the completion of the actions regarding accountability for the action of the TNI in East Timor following the referendum in 1999."

Military-nurtured militia groups embarked on an orgy of killing and destruction across East Timor after the territory voted for independence from Indonesia in a UN-held ballot on August 30, 1999.

"The action of the TNI as it was leaving East Timor resulted in the destruction of many parts of the cities and the injury or deaths to many citizens," Blair said. "The US has insisted that there be some sort of accountability procedures for those actions," he said.

Washington cancelled all military cooperation with the Indonesian armed forces following the post-ballot violence in East Timor and backed the deployment of UN peacekeepers. East Timor, a former Portuguese colony annexed by Indonesia in 1976, passed over to UN administration in October 1999 and is set for full independence on May 20.

Blair said he did not doubt Indonesian leaders' commitment to reforming the military. But he added: "I ... have not seen that sincerity translated into actions. So it is a case of turning the intention into investigations ... court martials or other cases," the admiral said.

The post-ballot violence forced an estimated half a million East Timorese to flee to Indonesian West Timor. Only about 188,000 have returned home so far. Many of those still in West Timor were members or supporters of the militias. They fled after the arrival of UN peacekeeping troops in East Timor in September 1999.

East Timorese independence leader Xanana Gusmao is now on a three-day visit to West Timor to meet government and military officials as well as pro-Jakarta militia leaders and representatives of the refugees.

His visit is aimed at promoting reconciliation with former militia enemies and encouraging the refugees to return home.