Dili – Violence by militias has risen so sharply ahead of an August 8 vote on autonomy from Indonesia that a UN peacekeeping force is needed in East Timor, human rights groups said on Thursday.

Also on Thursday, Amnesty International said an East Timorese pro-integration militia is planning to "cleanse" Dili of pro-independence men, women and children from Saturday, according to a document being distributed in Dili.

The militia, known as Red Blood, plans to evacuate pro-integrationists from the East Timor capital and then "exterminate and wipe out" anyone left in the city, said an Amnesty translation of the militia's document.

Call to disarm the warring factions

"Killings, terror and intimidation by the militia in East Timor have had a great effect on the people of East Timor. Hundreds have been killed and wounded," the groups said in a joint appeal presented to visiting British Junior Foreign Office Minister Derek Fatchett.

"Contrary to statements of the Indonesian government which assure a peaceful solution to the East Timor problem, the incidence of violence is on the rise," the statement said.

The rights groups expressed concern that pro-Jakarta militias, backed by the armed forces (ABRI), were targeting civilians in their campaign against separation from Indonesia.

Loyalist militia have vowed to try to block the UN ballot and to fight to the death to keep the eastern half of Timor island as part of Indonesia.

The UN will send foreign police to East Timor within weeks for the autonomy vote, but Indonesia has insisted they will act only as advisers and not become a UN peacekeeping force.

Indonesian rule of the former Portuguese territory after a 1975 invasion has never been recognized by the United Nations or much of the world community. UN

brokered agreement

Under mounting international pressure, Indonesian President B.J. Habibie on Tuesday approved a UN-brokered agreement with Portugal on an autonomy offer to be put to East Timorese.

Fatchett, left, visits victims attacked by pro-Indonesian militiamen Habibie has said Jakarta may let the territory of 800,000 people go it alone if East Timorese reject his offer of enhanced autonomy within Indonesia.

Habibie's abandonment of 23 years of Indonesian refusal to consider independence prompted pro-Jakarta militias to step up their attacks, mainly on civlians.

In the latest incident, several people were killed near the southern town of Suai, 200 km (120 miles) southwest of Dili, last week.

Church and human rights officials say up to 100 people were killed by militiamen. Military officials and militia leaders say noone was killed.

In their joint appeal, the human rights groups urged an immediate United Nations peacekeeping force, disarmament of the militias and the withdrawal of Indonesian troops, followed by the disarming of pro-independence guerrillas.

Ready to fight

On Wednesday, an East Timor militia leader said pro-Jakarta loyalists did not accept the planned UN-run ballot on the bloodied territory's future, threatening to take to the mountains to fight against independence.

"We reject a direct ballot," Jose Estevao Soares told reporters after meeting Fatchett in the East Timor capital of Dili.

"We are ready to face any situation, including going up to the mountains and fighting another 23 years ... or maybe longer," he said, saying he was speaking on behalf of all militias and pro-Jakarta groups in the former Portuguese colony.

"We will fight anybody who wants to trouble us and force us to accept their ways."

Soares did not say if the militias would actively fight to block the ballot. He was accompanied by another militia leader, Eurico Guterres, whose Aitarak (Thorn) militia is one of the strongest and most active. The militias, armed with a mix of guns and tribal weapons, and other pro-Jakarta groups represent several thousand people and rejection of the ballot casts a cloud over whether it can go ahead and if it will be seen as legitimate if it does.

Under the agreement, police from six nations will arrive within a few weeks as part of a United Nations operation to prepare for and run the ballot.

Habibie's abrupt U-turn on Jakarta's 23-year policy of rejecting independence outright has prompted loyalist militias to step up their campaign to keep the territory within Indonesia.

Rights groups say dozens of people have been killed so far this year. Pro-independence leaders have gone underground or into protective custody with the police.

Manuel Carrascalao, a leading resistance official, told Reuters on Wednesday he would seek temporary political asylum in Australia for himself and 11 family members until UN personnel arrive in East Timor.

Carrascalao is in protective custody after his home was attacked and several people killed during an April 17 rampage through Dili by militiamen. His son was hacked to death.

Civilian protection urged

Fatchett told reporters he had pressed government, military and police officials to carry out their duty to protect all civilians, adding that the UN-run ballot was the only way to stop the killing in East Timor.

"During the course of my meetings with the governor, with the police and with ABRI, I made it abundantly clear that their role under the international agreement signed by their government is to be wholly impartial, that they have to create the conditions in which it is possible to hold a free and fair ballot," he told reporters before flying out after a day-long visit.

"There is no doubt in my mind that the only way to stop the killing in the medium and long term, to lift the misery that has been on the shoulders of the people of East Timor, is to have the ballot."

Spritual leader says violence could mar vote

The mood in the troubled territory is too violent for its people to vote freely in the upcoming election, said East Timor's spiritual leader Bishop Carlos Belo on Wednesday. Portugal's TSF radio quoted the Roman Catholic cleric, a Nobel Peace Prize winner, as saying that fear could force the Timorese to back an Indonesian proposal for sweeping autonomy.

The territory's mainly Roman Catholic population will decide on August 8 whether to continue under the rule of Indonesia, albeit with a wide degree of autonomy, or become independent.

In a letter to the Vatican's Agencia Ecclesia, quoted by both TSF and Portugal's Lusa news agency, Belo accused the Indonesian secret service and the army of involvement in a recent upsurge of violence.

He said recent attacks by pro-Indonesia militias in Dili and other towns and villages had caused around 100 deaths.

The bishop's pessimism contrasted with the optimistic tone of Australian Prime Minister John Howard who said on Wednesday that he was confident Jakarta would deliver on pledges to disarm the militias and ensure a free and fair ballot.

"There has been a strong commitment ... to the holding of an open and clean ballot ... I had no reason to doubt the sincerity of the commitments," Howard said after a meeting on Tuesday with Indonesian President B.J. Habibie.

[Reuters contributed to this report]