Dili – The United Nations on Friday led international condemnation of Indonesia's handling of militia violence in East Timor as an exiled separatist leader called for a UN peacekeeping force.
The United Nations demanded that Indonesia crack down on armed anti-independence militias trying to disrupt Monday's vote on East Timor's future.
And the head of the UN Mission in East Timor (UNAMET), Ian Martin, slammed Indonesian police handling of the militia rampage Thursday which left five dead.
The violence forced the cancelation of a joint rally by opponents and supporters of independence on the final day of the vote campaign on Friday.
"All that was witnessed by UNAMET suggests that it was the militias carrying guns, weapons and that once again heavily armed police failed to intervene when that militia violence was carried out in front of them," Martin told foreign journalists.
Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer urged Indonesia to take action to maintain security in the lead-up to the ballot, in which East Timorese will vote on an offer of broad autonomy.
"The behaviour of a bunch of thugs on the streets of Dili or in other towns of East Timor should not stop the people of East Timor being able to exercise democratically their own wishes and to determine their own future," he said.
Exiled independence campaigner Jose Ramos-Horta urged Australia and the United States to take tougher action against Indonesia and said the deployment of an international peacekeeping force was imperative.
"At this stage the conditions require a peacekeeping force because it is the only way to save the whole process and to save lives," the Nobel Peace Prize winner told AFP in Sydney.
Indonesia would only act if it received serious warnings from Australia and the United States that they were prepared to intervene militarily, he said.
The United States welcomed a pledge Thursday by Jakarta to release jailed separatist leader Xanana Gusmao in mid-September, but called on Indonesia to do more.
"Indonesia must create an environment free of intimidation in which to hold the vote and, furthermore, reassure all parties that it will accept and uphold the decision of the people of East Timor," State Department spokesman James Foley said.
Martin said the head of UNAMET's civilian police contingent, Alan Mills, had spoken with East Timor police chief Colonel Timbul Silaen about the "deplorable" violence. Silaen denied accusations that police had done nothing. "It is not like that," he told the private SCTV television channel, claiming a deployment of four companies across Dili had prevented worse loss of life.
But Martin added: "Clearly there was not adequate security in Dili yesterday just as there has not been adequate security in Maliana and Viqueque and other places in recent days."
Indonesian police, who are in charge of security for the historic vote, had occasionally taken action but "almost never by arresting those responsible or seizing their weapons," he said.