Lindsay Murdoch, Dili – United Nations officials arriving in East Timor yesterday complained of a hostile reception from pro-Jakarta supporters as fresh violence erupted in the territory's second-largest town, Baucau, where a man was shot dead by Indonesian soldiers as he took part in a religious ceremony.
The UN's spokesman, Mr David Wimhurst, appealed to people on all sides of the conflict to apply for 4,000 UN jobs open to East Timorese after hundreds of residents of the capital, Dili, most of them independence supporters, crowded the gate of the UN's just-established headquarters.
The residents became angry when about 20 heavily armed Indonesian police blocked their entry to the complex on the outskirts of the town, prompting UN officials to ask them to scale-down their presence.
Student leader Mr Francisco Fernandes told reporters amid cheers from the crowd: "The people want the police to go away from here – they don't trust the Indonesian police." Most of the police left soon after. Mr Wimhurst said that although the UN had to remain neutral ahead of an August ballot to decide the future of the former Portuguese territory, offers of support from independence supporters had flooded in, while the supporters of integration with Indonesia were hostile. Mr Wimhurst said the UN had received information, although no direct threats, that some people in East Timor wanted to attack UN staff.
Julio Caetano Ximenes, 25, died after being shot in the back of the head as he tried to flee more than 100 soldiers who had surrounded the religious procession in Baucau on Thursday, AAP reported relatives as saying.
Relatives said there was no motive for the attack. Even as they wept on Thursday over Mr Ximenes, Indonesian soldiers came to their house and demanded to take his body away.
Mr Wimhurst said the UN had been told about the attack, the latest in a series during which up to 100 independence activists have been killed since Indonesia's President, Dr B.J. Habibie, announced in January that he would give 800,000 Timorese the choice between autonomy or breaking away from Indonesia.
UN officials have confirmed another attack this week on three representatives of the main independence group, the National Council for Timorese Resistance, in the coastal town of Liquica, 40 kilometres west of Dili. The men were beaten and tortured.
With the UN's blue flag now flying over the headquarters of the UN Assistance Mission for East Timor, the main pro-independence leaders are still hiding, demanding UN protection before agreeing to campaign openly for the ballot.
Mr Wimhurst said the UN was trying to find the location of centres outside Dili where church and aid workers estimate that 48,000 displaced people are living in intolerable conditions and are forced to swear their allegiance to Indonesia every day.
Mr Wimhurst dismissed a request by Indonesia to change the ballot date to August 7 because August 8 is a Sunday.