Militias still in control, Dili in ruins

SYDNEY MORNING HERALD correspondent Lindsay Murdoch, who until yesterday had been reporting from the besieged UN compound in Dili, has been evacuated to Darwin, Australia. His most recent dispatch, detailing the harrowing evacuation from Dili and the near-total destruction of the Timorese capital, contradicts the Indonesian government's claim that martial law is slowly returning order to the province. Murdoch says, "there are looters and thugs carrying pistols who walk with the arrogant swagger of the victor."

Nearly 500 UN civilian police and international staff -- as well as 350 Timorese UN employees -- were evacuated yesterday, leaving only a skeleton crew remaining at the UN compound in Dili. A refugee who had been evacuated to Darwin reported seeing "stacks of bodies...up to the roof" in the Dili police station. The people left in the capital, says Murdoch, have learned how to stay alive: Wear or display the red and white colors of the Indonesian flag.

APEC foreign ministers agree on need for peacekeepers, with conditions
Yesterday, foreign ministers meeting in preparation for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit this weekend in New Zealand agreed in theory to a peacekeeping force for East Timor, reports THE GUARDIAN (UK). British Foreign Secretary Robin Cook said that his country was dispatching a guided-missile destroyer to the region and was considering contributing ground troops to the effort, but indicated that no ultimatums or deadlines would be given to the Indonesian government. US and British officials have insisted that no action will be taken without UN Security Council approval and an invitation from the Indonesian government. The Security Council is waiting for its delegation -- due back tomorrow -- to return from East Timor and report its findings to UN Secretary General Kofi Annan.

Vatican plea: Stop "genocide" in East Timor
Yesterday the Vatican made its strongest statement yet against the violence in East Timor, saying that an international presence was necessary to stop "a genocide that does not spare the Catholic church," according to the SYDNEY MORNING HERALD. The statement followed confirmation that at least 100 Catholics, including three priests, were killed in an attack on a church in the village of Suai. Militia members reportedly threw grenades into the church -- which was sheltering refugees -- and then set fire to the parish complex. Nobel Peace Prize recipient Bishop Belo, who is due to meet with the Pope next week, said "it is time to act urgently. It is already too late [for sanctions]."

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Sept. 9

UN convoy fired on; some staff to remain in Dili

Hours after the Indonesian military (TNI) commander General Wiranto announced that the situation in Dili had "greatly improved", a UN convoy traveling to a Dili warehouse for supplies was fired on by militias, according to THE AGE. UN officials reported that Indonesian soldiers, who were supposed to be providing security for the convoy, refused to stop the militia members from firing shots at the group of five UN vehicles. Militia members also apparently attacked the vehicles with crowbars.

Meanwhile, parts of Dili were still burning throughout the day and UN officials reported seeing tons of goods -- presumably looted -- being loaded onto an Indonesian Navy ship at the town's wharf. According to UNAMET head Ian Martin, "Dili is a ghost town with not very much left to loot."

Following a "near-revolt" by UN personnel who did not want to desert the compound, the UN has decided to retain a small presence in Dili. Roughly 1000 refugees who had been sheltered in the compound were being escorted to the town of Dare to join thousands of other independence supporters seeking refuge. According to Martin, negotiations had guaranteed the refugees safe passage to the town.

Aussie PM says US should be more forceful
The AUSTRALIAN BROADCASTING CORPORATION reports that Australian Prime Minister John Howard has said that the United States should put more pressure on the Indonesian government to accept international peacekeepers in East Timor. Characterizing the Pentagon's decision to suspend ties with Indonesia's military as symbolic, Howard called on President Clinton "to make it very plain internationally that Indonesia should have an international force."

Pentagon suspends official relations with Indonesian military; Some Senate Dems. want to go further

The Pentagon announced earlier today that official relations with the Indonesian military have been suspended due to Indonesia's apparent inability to restore order in East Timor, reports THE ASSOCIATED PRESS. Pentagon spokesman Navy Rear Adm. Craig Quigley said "we just don't think that it's appropriate, given the circumstances, that this relationship continue at this point." Quigley said that the decision, which was reportedly made by Defense Secretary William Cohen and chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Henry H. Shelton, signals an indefinite end to planning future US-Indonesian military excercises. It is not clear how the decision will affect diplomatic relations between the two countries.

Also today, Chairman Shelton said that although the Clinton administration may participate in resolving the crisis, he saw no need to commit US troops to the effort. Shelton told the Senate Armed Services Committee that he could not "see any national interest there that would be overwhelming, that would call for us to deploy ... US forces on the ground" in East Timor.

Several Democratic Senators want to take more forceful action, however. Senators Russ Feingold (D-WI), Joseph Biden (D-DE) and John Kerry (D-MA) have proposed legislation that would suspend all US military and economic aid to Indonesia unless East Timor is restored to order immediately.

Dili burns; Rumors that Habibie will resign; UN staff plead for help, prepare to evacuate

Conditions in Dili continue to deteriorate even as Indonesian Foreign Minister Ali Alatas told a visiting UN Security Council delegation that only Indonesia will restore order to East Timor, reports THE INDEPENDENT (UK). After postponing UNAMET's withdrawal for 24 hours, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan ordered the site evacuated following a "plea" from UNAMET's head, Ian Martin, who remains in the beseiged compound. According to Martin, phone, water, and electricity services have been cut and all the modern buildings in Dili have been torched. People taking refuge in the UN compound were making do with a dwindling food supply and power supplied by a generator.

Many now fear that violence will mar the evacuation of the UN mission, scheduled for tomorrow. Machine guns have reportedly been mounted on the road leading from the UN site to the airport, prompting UNAMET spokesman David Wimhurst to issue an appeal "to governments to guarantee our security and to monitor the withdrawal." Moreover, even if UN staff are evacuated safely, thousands of East Timorese will be exposed to the full wrath of the militias as what little security and accountability the UN provided disappears. José Ramos-Horta was quoted as saying, "If UNAMET packs and leaves, genocide will begin in a few hours."

Habibie still in control, government insists

Disputing rumors that Indonesian President B. J. Habibie had lost control over much of his military and is preparing to resign, a government spokeswoman yesterday said that "Habibie is fully in control and the relation between the military and the president is very excellent," according to THE JAKARTA POST. Military and government officials have long dismissed charges that the military, angry with Habibie's decision to hold a referendum on East Timor's status, has been supporting pro-autonomy militias in East Timor. However, Foreign Minister Ali Alatas recently admitted that "rogue elements" within the security forces may have been involved in such activites.

In an interview with the Post, ruling Golkar party deputy chairman Marzuki Darusman acknowledged that Habibie's position has weakened as "he had to adjust to the military's request for imposing martial law on East Timor." Darusman predicted that the situation is likely to benefit Indonesian Armed Forces General Wiranto, who is now "in the position to balance out forces within the Armed Forces ... [and take] charge of the situation in East Timor."

Xanana Gusmão's father killed in violence
According to THE SYDNEY MORNING HERALD, the father of Timorese independence leader Xanana Gusmão was killed yesterday in Dili. Manuel Gusmão, who was found by UNAMET officials after a six-day long search, was a former school teacher.

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Sept. 8

Despite martial law, chaos continues
Violence and chaos continued unchecked in East Timor yesterday, yet the Indonesian government still insists that they can maintain control over the province, reports THE BOSTON GLOBE. Last night armed men set the university, court house, and telecommunications facilities on fire. After a two night grace period, Indonesian soldiers have reportedly been ordered to shoot anyone violating an evening curfew on sight. Witnesses have reported incidents of Indonesian police and military units directly participating in the violence, possibly indicating that General Wiranto has lost control over some of his forces. In one such incident, UN workers reported that Indonesian police fired automatic weapons into the UN office in Baucau, which was sheltering roughly 200 UN personnel and 2,500 refugees inside.

Report from UN headquarters in Dili

Although most foreign journalists have fled East Timor, some remain -- and their accounts offer immediate and powerful insight into the terror that now consumes the province. SYDNEY MORNING HERALD correspondent Lindsay Murdoch has been dispatching timely reports from the besieged UN compound in Dili.

According to Murdoch, the UN's office in Baucau has been evacuated and now there are no UN personnel in East Timor outside of Dili. UN workers and terrified refugees are gathered at the UN compound in Dili, which came under "direct fire" yesterday despite the presence of Indonesian police "guarding" the site. Mrs. Aida Ramos Horta de Assis, sister of Nobel Peace Prize winner José Ramos-Horta, arrived at the compound shaken after her home was broken into by an Indonesian military officer. According to Murdoch's dispatch, "entire suburbs of Dili have been cleared of people, some of them herded at gun-point on to trucks. UN officials have been told the Indonesian authorities plan to evacuate up to 200,000 people" from the province.

Pro-autonomy leader flees East Timor
LUSA NEWS (Portugal) reports that Indonesia's "roving ambassador for East Timor affairs" and pro-autonomy activist Francisco Lopes da Cruz has left Dili for West Timor. According to an East Timorese priest who was evacuated to Australia, da Cruz and his family were accompanied out of the city by an Indonesian military escort. A priest who had sought shelter at da Cruz's house is apparently missing.

One hundred feared dead in church attack
The missionary agency Misna has reported that roughly one hundred people, including three Catholic priests, were killed in a militia attack on a church in Suai, East Timor, according to THE AGE. The Vatican has called for an international peacekeeping force to be deployed to restore order to the province. The attack on the church follows the torching of Bishop Carlos Felipe Ximenes Belo's residence in Dili, which prompted Belo to flee to Australia on Tuesday. He is scheduled to meet with Pope John Paul II at the Vatican next week.

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Sept. 7

IMF "closely watching" events in East Timor

Despite calls from many human-rights activists and Timorese independence leaders for the IMF and the World Bank to suspended payments to Indonesia until the violence in East Timor is quelled, the international lending institutions have not yet made such a pledge. However, the IMF has issued what some are calling a "highly unusual statement" saying that Indonesia "should have every interest in seeing the process in East Timor unfold smoothly and without violence in accordance with internationally recognised norms," according to THE AGE. The IMF and World Bank have disbursed billions of dollars to the country in recent years, and are positioned to exert substantial pressure on the Indonesian government to ensure the province's peaceful transition to independence.

Meanwhile, the World Bank and the IMF have already indicated that they are willing and able to help rebuild East Timor's economy if and when it becomes independent from Indonesia.

Martial law amounts to effective news blackout in East Timor

The Indonesian government's declaration of martial law in East Timor gives its military forces supreme power to act in whatever way deemed necessary to restore order in the province. Under the 1959 State of Emergency Law, that includes the right to "take over the post office, telecommunications and radio broadcasting facilities", restrict "printing, publication, announcement, dissemination ... and display of writing ... paintings, slides and pictures", and confiscate and censor "all mail and cables", according to THE JAKARTA POST. In a province where most journalists and international observers have fled or been evacuated, that amounts to a virtual news blackout.

Also granted under martial law: The right to "regulate, restrict or halt the flow of goods into and out of the territory and the distribution of goods within the territory, ... regulate or restrict the use of open fields," and the ability to "close down buildings, meeting halls, places of entertainment, garages, shops and factories."

Military, militias attack orphanage
According to an independent source in Australia, the Indonesian military and their pro-autonomy cohorts in the militias attacked an orphanage in Dili yesterday, hurling handmade grenades into the compound where about 70 children and 30 staff members were sheltering. According to a staff member contacted by phone after the initial attack said the militias had threatened to burn the orphanage to the ground when they returned.

Gusmão freed
CNRT leader Xanana Gusmão was freed from house arrest by the Indonesian government earlier today, according to the ASSOCIATED PRESS. He had been held captive for seven years for his activities in organizing the pro-independence resistance in East Timor.

Gusmão was released into UN custody and taken to the British embassy in Jakarta. He is not expected to return to East Timor until the violence there is under greater control.

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Sept. 6

UN: At a loss, goes back to Jakarta
The United Nations Security Council could not come to a consensus on sending troops to East Timor without an invitation from Indonesia (the US is a member and publicly noncommittal), so Secretary General Kofi Annan has agreed to send a delegation of five Security Council delegates to Jakarta to try to "persuade" Indonesia to act to stop the killing in the province, according to the AGENCE FRENCH PRESS.

Observer: Indonesian preparing to declare vote illegal
East Timor Action Network spokesman John Miller told RADIO AUSTRALIA WORLD NEWS that he believe the Indonesian military is moving East Timorese refugees to West Timor to create an argument for partitioning the western area of East Timor and to invalidate the UN-sponsored plebescite.

They're going to argue that all these people that they're moving, and it's very much a forced move, are going voluntarily to West Timor because they're afraid that in an independent East Timor they'll be killed or have no future," he said.

Indonesia declares martial law - military on rampage
Indonesia imposed martial law today in East Timor as thousands of people fled the province and pro-Indonesian militias continued a wave of terror, torching homes and reportedly slaughtering hundreds of civilians, according to the SYDNEY MORNING HERALD.

The order from President B.J. Habibie gives the military complete control over the province. This is the same military which has armed, trained, and paid the militias which are currently wreaking havoc there, and which has reportedly stood by and watched the violence instead of intervening to stop it, as it is required to do under the UN agreement signed May 5.

Late reports from the RADIO AUSTRALIA WORLD NEWS indicated that Indonesia soldiers are now openly collaborating with militias in intimidating and attacking independence supporters and other civilians.

Also from RADIO AUSTRALIA, a doctor based in Dili called the declaration of martial law "a joke," and said it would only provide the military with cover for more bloodshed.

Australia commits to troops - sort of
Australia's Foreign Minister said Australia was prepared to send troops to East Timor as part of an international peacekeeping force, but only if it was invited to do so by Indonesia, according to a report in the SYDNEY MORNING HERALD.

Australia also put its troops on emergency alert, reducing the time it would take to send peacekeeping forces to East Timor to 24 hours from 72 hours, Defense Minister John Moore said.

Meanwhile, the US would support Australian troops in East Timor if Indonesia consented, according to White House spokesman Barry Toiv, but he did not say that the US would also commit troops, or what the consequences for Jakarta might be if it refused Australia's offer, according to REUTERS.

Militias attack Bishop Belo's house
Pro-Jakarta militias opened fire on the residence of Nobel Prize winner and Catholic Bishop Carlos Belo, where as many as 2,000 terrified East Timorese had sought refuge. While many media outlets announced that the attack constituted the breaking of one of the last taboos -- attacking the Catholic church -- the militias have made several previous attacks in past months on individual churches and a priest's house where independence supporters had hidden.

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