Militias prey as evidence 'cleaned up'

By Greg Ansley

DILI - The next few weeks will show whether the East Timorese militias have formed their promised guerrilla army in Indonesian West Timor or have disintegrated.

In a city which feeds on rumour, the militias were supposedly preparing during the weekend for an assault today against United Nations Interfet troops moving through the far west of East Timor.

But in the east, militiamen have become the hunted in the territory they once terrorised, either surrendering without resistance to Interfet soldiers or seeking protective custody in the face of a growing incidence of revenge beatings.

Unconfirmed reports have also emerged from West Timor of Indonesian-directed assassinations of militia members as part of a clean-up to ensure no evidence will remain for war crimes investigators.

The reports have been confused by further rumours of factional rivalry within the Indonesian army and West Timorese administration over the future of the militias.

Aid workers with contacts extending into the west, where more than 200,000 East Timorese refugees are living in appalling conditions and under threat from continued militia violence, say the Indonesians will want to rid themselves of the legacy of the east's devastation.

Sister Joan Westblade, an Australian nun with extensive knowledge of the country through a Catholic literacy programme, said the Timorese knew the militias would be the first to be killed by the Indonesians to cut off potentially embarrassing evidence to war crimes investigators.

"The militias themselves are frightened," she said.

Similar reports have come from a number of other sources, including the Commission for East Timorese Resistance (CNRT), which will form the basis of the Government for an independent East Timor.

One unconfirmed report said Eurico Guterres, the leader of the Dili-based Aitarak Militia, had been wounded in the thigh in one of a number of shooting incidents at the large refugee camp at Kupang, on the western tip of Indonesian West Timor.

However, Michael Barton, of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, which has regular contact with refugee camps in the west, said he had no knowledge of the Guterres shooting or of other violence against militia leaders there.

In Dili militiamen are still seen on the streets, but at increasing personal risk.

Caitano Da Silva, a senior member of the Aitarak detained by Interfet, is understood to have asked to be held in protective custody beyond the 72 hours allowed under the UN mandate, but is at large again.

Despite a policy of reconciliation that includes efforts to entice militias into rehabilitation programmes, CNRT members last week severely beat a suspected militia member, who remains in hospital after being rescued by Interfet soldiers.

Another fled from a drunken mob wielding sticks with nails driven through them into the arms of western photographers, who talked the attackers down until soldiers arrived.

Last week, New Zealand infantrymen also rescued eight militiamen from a hostile crowd of about 150 people after one of their number had been roughed up and a fighter of the Falintil resistance army had gone into their refuge to talk with them.

Meanwhile, in the west, peacemakers are pushing through the most dangerous territory along the border where militia leaders have threatened a counter-offensive by 12,000 fighters.

Interfet has about 1000 troops, supported by armour and helicopters, in the border area, but remains cautious about estimates of militia strength and resolve.

"Whether [the militias] can in fact bring that number, I'm unsure, but we do prepare ourselves out in that area," said the Interfet chief of staff, Colonel Mark Kelly.

"Our soldiers are certainly vigilant."