Smiling, talking - and then the massacre

Major Ian Martyn

DILI - The day began for Major Ian Martyn, a New Zealander with the United Nations in Timor Leste, with smoke in the sky and gunfire in the suburbs. It was to end in massacre last Friday when East Timorese soldiers gunned down 10 unarmed policemen in breach of a truce arranged under the United Nations flag.

Major Martyn, who had been training a special police border patrol unit until the chaos began and the police force disintegrated, stood under the soldiers' guns in a firefight, bullets bouncing off posts nearby, while his commanding officer negotiated a ceasefire with the head of the Timorese Defence Force.

Later he was caught in the midst of the slaughter as soldiers unleashed a hail of gunfire into a column of unarmed police in the most barbaric act of the factional and ethnic rivalry that has been tearing Timor Leste apart.

The day had already started with the sound of machineguns, rifles and rocket-propelled grenades as battles moved from the suburbs closer to the heart of Dili, focusing on the neighbouring FDTL (Army) and PNTL (police) headquarters.

When the police called for help, the chief UN military adviser, his deputy and Major Martyn drove to the Timorese Defence Force chief's offices. As they were inside brokering a truce, another UN vehicle arrived.

Unknown to Major Martyn, the UN policemen inside had been around the police compound, driving up a rear street to containers from which soldiers with light machineguns were drilling the police building.

When the soldiers refused to stop firing, the UN officers drove back and met Major Martyn and the negotiators. The machinegunners and their refusal to stop firing were to be critical to the major. The negotiators drove into the police compound past the soldiers, the major holding the UN flag out the window as high as he could. At the end of the street, the machinegunners waited, fingers on the trigger.

"Everything was quiet, all the way around. There were FDTL soldiers standing along the road. We waved. They waved back and smiled."

Inside the police compound, the party was met by frightened policemen, two of them wounded. A woman was lying on the ground.

One of the conditions of the ceasefire was that police leave the compound unarmed.

"These people were told they need to disarm. They were not happy about that whatsoever, taking away their potential protection, so there was a lot of coaxing and cajoling and smiling and talking to try to get their weapons away from them. They finally did, and I stuck them in my car," Major Martyn said.

It was a fearsome load: Steyr and FN military rifles, Glocks, shotguns, grenades, about 200 in all.

"We were trying to hurry them up to get them out of the building, get their weapons handed over and so forth. Time was ticking along."

Outside, soldiers were still hammering the end of the compound with gunfire, despite the ceasefire.

When it finally stopped, policemen poured out from hiding. The chief military adviser formed them up on the road to walk to the nearby barracks where the UN advisers were based.

Nine or 10 cars arrived. The policemen took some convincing, but were eventually persuaded to form a column. "They were going to be walked down, under UN protection, they would be unarmed, to all intents and purposes they would be safe," Major Martyn said.

The column formed up between two lines of vehicles. The two UN negotiators walked at the head, carrying the UN flag. Major Martyn was driving a car three back from the front of the column, which then started moving.

At the intersection at the end of the street he saw a UN policemen standing with a FNTL soldier who was pointing his weapon at the ground.

The column moved in to the intersection and Major Martyn realised the soldier had recognised someone in the police ranks. He skirted around the UN officer and raised his weapon.

On the other side of the intersection another soldier with an automatic weapon opened fire, blasting into the front of the column of unarmed men. The first soldier joined in.

"Everyone in the column between the cars hit the ground. A lot of the police officers jumped out of the cars and hit the ground. Things got a bit blurry from there on."

The UN police in his car rolled out and hit the road. The major lay flat on the seat, trying to get the car into reverse. The gearshift was caught on the bottom of his flak jacket.

Two PNTL officers jumped into the car on top of a pile of weapons.

"I eventually got it into gear and gave it the boot, going backwards at a high rate of knots. So from the time I ducked down from the windscreen, I didn't see anything. I can hear stuff. I'm hearing automatic fire."

Two cars were behind him. But by the time he looked up, one had swerved to the side and the one in the centre of the rear of the column had gone, opening a clear passage.

"God knows how I got it straight, but I went back as fast as I could. I had these two UIR guys screaming and crying because they can see the blokes on the ground and then one told me to stop, because I was thinking I was going all the way back to those containers. That's got to be safer."

Major Martyn had no idea the machinegunners were there.

"One of these guys was looking out the back window and said, 'Sir, sir, stop, stop, they're shooting, they're shooting'. Unbeknown to me the machinegun at that end of the street was shooting back up the street."

Somehow, the hail of bullets missed the car. Major Martyn hit the brakes and roared back behind the police headquarters. Close on his heels were the two Timorese policemen.

Two other police cars also made it behind the building, but only a wall separated them from the soldiers. As long as the Timorese were there, they were targets.

And Major Martyn still had his car, packed with weapons and ammunition: a prime target - and prize.

He hid the car in the compound. Within five minutes, radios were humming and UN police reinforcements were on their way.

Major Martyn heard a voice he recognised and came out of hiding. In the street he saw carnage: nine men had been killed. He watched, appalled, as one body was picked up. The top of the victim's head had been blown off and the brain fell to the ground.

Twenty-seven men were wounded, 18 critically. Two UN policemen were among the injured. Later, a 10th FNTL body was found in a ditch.

The outraged UN demanded an immediate investigation.

Sukehiro Hasegawa, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan's Special Representative in Timor Leste, said: "We consider this incident to be a most serious and reprehensible breach [of a ceasefire agreement] and a serious crime."

But, said Major Martyn, the job had to go on. "If the UN sits back and is riveted to inaction, then I guess we're not demonstrating our credibility."