John Martinkus, Kupang – Exiled pro-Indonesian militia leader Eurico Gutteres who was widely blamed for the destruction of Dili wants to negotiate a return to East Timor for himself and his men.

"I want to return but it's not that easy," Gutteres told AAP from a safe house in Kupang, West Timor, where the leader of the feared Aitarak militia is planning his next move.

Slumped in an armchair on the verandah of the house, the man who was the public face of the Indonesian military-sponsored militia said the May 5 agreement between the United Nations, Indonesia and Portugal should ensure his protection by the UN in the new East Timor.

"If the May 5 agreement from last year is followed by the UN ... there should be a guarantee of every party's right to security in East Timor, " he said.

The Aitarak militia have been blamed for much of the violence, murder and looting in Dili in the lead up and after the territory's vote for independence from Indonesia last August 30.

Gutteres blames the chaos in Dili on the UN and the Australian government. "I told people that the situation was not safe to have a ballot, I spoke to your Foreign Minister Mr [Alexander] Downer and someone from your army and told them what would happen if they did not send in peacekeepers before the ballot," he said.

"They said they couldn't send them in. I often said we could still do it [hold the ballot] but postpone it. The situation was not safe."

Like other pro-Indonesian leaders, Gutteres maintains that the UN was not neutral in its conduct of the ballot that resulted in a 79 per cent independence vote. "The local staff were pro- independent. The people watching the ballot were always pro- independent," he said.

Following the arrival of the Australian-led peacekeeping force in September, Gutteres and other militia leaders vowed to fight a guerrilla style war.

But he said he had now abandoned that option. However, he warned the UN administration due to take over the peacekeeping operations from the Australian-led Interfet forces in late February not to ignore the demands of his men.

"To reach peace in East Timor is not as easy as many foreigners think," he said. He also denied claims that his Aitarak militia had disbanded. "My people are still the same as before, not more and not less. We are waiting to see what Xanana Gusmao wants from us," he said.

Gutteres said he did not know if his men could keep their weapons – that was something he wanted to discuss with the UN administration in East Timor.

The militia leader has appeared in Jakarta before the Indonesian commission on human rights abuses in East Timor on December 21 and left Kupang today for Jakarta to meet with them again tomorrow.

Gutteres said he would try to make the human rights inquiry look into violence by both sides before 1975. "It's bullshit that Falintil never carried out any violence," he said, referring to the pro-independence guerrilla army of East Timor.

The involvement of the Indonesian military in the violence throughout the ballot period is something he said would be left to the commission.

Asked if the Indonesian military (TNI) had no part in the violence carried out by his Aitarak militia, he said: "If I say yes TNI had no part, that would be wrong."