Lindsay Murdoch, Jakarta – Indonesia's President, Mr Abdurrahman Wahid, responded quickly yesterday to protests from Australia and the United Nations, ordering his armed forces to disarm militia launching cross-border attacks in East Timor. He also ordered the closing of refugee camps in West Timor near the border with East Timor which militia groups use as their bases.

The Foreign Minister, Mr Alwi Shihab, said Mr Wahid was "very concerned and unhappy" about the militia attacks in East Timor in the past few days and had ordered the Minister for Defence, Mr Juwono Sudarsono, and the Armed Forces Chief, Admiral Widodo, to take whatever action was necessary to stop them.

"We can no longer tolerate these incidents and the perpetrators should not only be given a stern warning but receive what we call legal sanctions," said Mr Shihab, one of Mr Wahid's closest political associates.

A United Nations delegation, led by the head of the UN peacekeeping force in East Timor, Lieutenant-General Jaime de los Santos, had earlier told Indonesian ministers and senior officials in Jakarta that the international community would not tolerate the cross-border raids.

Mr Shihab said after hearing the protests from General de los Santos and other UN officials he had "immediately called the defence minister to take actions to, if necessary, disarm the militia and to make more efforts and be firmer because this has harmed Indonesia's reputation."

Government officials said Mr Wahid was particularly embarrassed because the attacks escalated after he made a goodwill visit to East Timor on February 29.