Indonesian troops have cracked down on suspected militia members near the East Timor border, banning them from wearing camouflage uniforms as the UN sought an extension for peacekeeping forces in the fledgling nation.
Kupang military commander Colonel Muswarno Moesanip ordered the ban after discovering several members of the so-called Pembela Merah Putih, or Red and White Defenders Front, headed by notorious former militia leader Eurico Guterres.
Guterres was the most prominent pro-Jakarta militia leader in East Timor before the wave of bloodshed that followed the then Indonesian province's vote for independence in 1999.
He urged his Aitarak (Thorn) militiamen to "capture and kill" those who had "betrayed integration" of East Timor.
Muswarno said Red and White Defenders Front members had been recruiting in the border region near East Timor and were wearing military-style camouflage clothing and red berets similar to the uniforms of TNI soldiers deployed in the Atambua area.
"It is forbidden for unauthorised people to wear military clothing," he told AAP. "There's a new tendency for civilians to be militaristic. It doesn't need to be that way. Why don't they just wear white, black or yellow? It's cool. Why do they need military stripes?"
The ban came as UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan recommended that the United Nations keep a scaled-down mission in East Timor for an extra year, warning a scheduled pullout in May could affect security and stability.
In a report on Wednesday to the UN Security Council, Annan called for about 275 military personnel, police trainers, civilian advisers and human rights officers to remain in the country until May 20, 2006, along with a small staff for the UN representative.
The mission currently has about 900 military, police and international civilian staff, including around 100 Australian troops and police, acting as engineers, advisers and logistics experts.
Last November, the Security Council extended the mandate of the mission for what was supposed to be the last time, acknowledging East Timor had not reached a "critical threshold of self-sufficiency".
Annan said East Timor still needed international assistance to control its borders, develop a professional police service, establish judicial and financial institutions, and promote democratic governance and human rights.
Muswarno said despite fears of further militia incursions when UN forces left, security on the porous border with West Timor had recently been bolstered.
Another infantry battalion would soon join the four Indonesian army battalions already there to prevent the West Timor border region from becoming a base for armed incursions into East Timor.
The chief of Belu police told the Detik.com news portal that his officers did not have the authority to ban militia members from wearing military uniforms.
In November 2002, an Indonesian court sentenced Guterres to 10 years jail for human rights crimes, but he remains free on appeal, although confined to Java island.
There are unconfirmed reports he has recently been in tsunami-shattered Aceh seeking new Red and White Defenders Front recruits.