Atambua – Bowing to international pressure, Indonesia has begun to disarm pro-Jakarta Timorese militias even as Attorney-General Marzuki Darusman said that the Indonesian Military (TNI) should not continue denying that it has a connection with militias currently operating in West Timor.

Militiamen in West Timor surrendered hundreds of weapons to police yesterday in the first step of what the Indonesian government and the international community hope will be a total disarmament.

Just down the road from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) office where three foreign aid workers were slaughtered by a militia mob on September 6, 12 gang members arrived at a local police station with three cars packed with weapons.

In all, seven automatic rifles, nine grenade launchers, 485 homemade guns, four grenades and 687 rounds of ammunition were handed in by members of the Thunder militia group, one of many gangs that killed hundreds of people during last year's rampage in East Timor after the independence ballot. More weapons will come in over the next few days, a source said.

The regional military commander who oversees West Timor, Major-General Kiki Syahnakri, was quoted by Antara as saying that he would quit if the disarmament process failed.

But armed forces chief Admiral Widodo Adisucipto has warned that the disarmament process will be slow and difficult. "It cannot be done all at once. It requires a socialisation process which is to be followed later by warnings, but steps which later lead to disarmament will definitely be taken," he said. The Attorney-General noted that the difficult disarmament process is one of the consequences of the military's relationship with the militias.

"It's no use for the military to keep denying the fact that the militias are backed and aided by them," he said. "It's not that simple to disarm, let alone dismiss, militia groups, for there is a psychological relationship between old elements in the TNI, recent troops deployed in East Nusa Tenggara and the displaced militias," he told journalists at his office.

While yesterday's weapons surrender was a positive first step, hundreds of other militiamen have yet to come forward to surrender their guns. Indonesia's government has promised to use force to disarm and disband any militiamen who do not surrender their weapons by Tuesday.