Mark Dodd – With 10 days remaining before East Timor votes on self-determination, the head of the United Nations mission in Dili, Mr Ian Martin, has called for the removal of Indonesian Army personnel involved in deadly pro-Jakarta militia violence.
The entire staff of a major UN provincial office were evacuated on Wednesday after armed militia took over the streets of this south-west town in an embarrassing protest that coincided with a visit by Mr Martin and senior Indonesian Government officials.
Just 15 kilometres from Balibo, where five Australian-based newsmen were shot dead by Indonesian forces and their militia allies in 1975, UN personnel are now under threat by some of those same pro-integration veterans.
Mr Martin said several senior Indonesian military officials went to Maliana yesterday to investigate Wednesday's violence, which militia and UN police sources said left two people dead.
The UN now expected to see strong action taken, he said. "Two forms of action which I think would be the clearest indication Jakarta's policy is being applied on the ground would be that the [Indonesian] police arrest anybody found with weapons outside designated cantonment areas.
"The second form of action which would be an indication of their seriousness would be the removal of members of the TNI [Indonesian military] who have been most closely and obviously associated with militia activities in these districts."
A list of names of serving military personnel linked to militia violence which seeks to sabotage a free poll had been handed to Indonesian authorities. Mr Martin said UN Secretary-General Mr Kofi Annan's mandate to allow political campaigning by both sides was not being carried out in the district of Bobanaro and several others, including Viqueque and Suai.
He did not believe the Maliana violence was deliberately organised to coincide with the UN/Indonesian Task Force visit. However, he said he would continue to press for action against local government and security officials who were involved in militia rabble rousing.
Indonesian officials, including the head of the Task Force on East Timor, Mr Agus Tamidzi, were visibly shaken by the brazen protest in Maliana, which involved several hundred militiamen carrying illegal weapons in full view of local police and army personnel charged with keeping security. "We were in the cars ready to evacuate. We'd have been sitting ducks if we'd remained in here," said one UN civilian policeman gesturing towards the high-walled UNAMET compound.
But a senior Indonesian official in Dili, Mr Dino Djalal, blamed pro-independence supporters for provoking the violence. A group of the supporters blocked pro-Jakarta rivals from campaigning in the town and had started throwing stones, he said.