U.N. delegation encounters
smoking ruins in East Timor
New reports of atrocities emerge from devastated capital
September
11, 1999
Web posted at: 3:46 HKT (0746 GMT)
JAKARTA, Indonesia (CNN) -- A heavily guarded delegation from the U.N.
Security Council arrived in the East Timor capital of Dili on Saturday,
encountering smoking ruins in the heart of the gutted city, and roads
lined with police.
Two columns of smoke filled the sky, as the delegation traveled toward
the U.N. compound, where about 1,000 East Timorese people have sought
refuge. In the harbor, two battleships were stationed.
Few buildings were left untouched by rampages which have swept the
provincial capital during the past week, leaving residents in a virtual
state of siege.
The U.N. delegation plans to assess the situation in East Timor in the
violent aftermath of a vote for independence in the Indonesian province.
The mission expects to depart later on Saturday, before curfew, CNN's
Maria Ressa reported from Dili.
Thousands of people are said to have been killed in a wave violence,
including burning and looting, unleashed by pro-Jakarta militias since
results of the August 30 referendum were announced. Nearly 80 percent of
voters chose independence in the U.N.-run ballot.
While no death toll across East Timor has been determined, estimates
have ranged to as many as 7,000 dead.
Fleeing in terror
U.N. officials report that an estimated one-quarter of the 850,000 East
Timorese have fled their homes.
Pressure is mounting to send international peacekeeping troops to East
Timor, but no nation has indicated it will send troops without the
agreement of the United Nations and Indonesia.
A broad coalition of nations, including many members of the
Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum, support sending in troops to end
the massacres.
Australian Prime Minister John Howard said in a television interview on
Saturday that he believed an initial force would be led by Australia and
number up to 8,000.
Troops from Australia, New Zealand, Malaysia and the Philippines are
likely to spearhead a U.N. peacekeeping force into East Timor if Indonesia
approves the operation, New Zealand said on Saturday.
"If in fact the Indonesian government said 'we are prepared to
allow an intervention force', you could have a lot of soldiers on the
ground within a few days," New Zealand Foreign Minister Don McKinnon
said.
"The four countries that have so far indicated (they) could put
support on the ground -- Malaysia, Philippines, ourselves and Australia --
all I understand could move quite a number of troops within a week,"
he told reporters covering a summit of Asia-Pacific leaders in Auckland.
McKinnon said a "threat assessment" would be needed to gauge
"the level of threat to a few thousand soldiers coming in."
Australian reports massacre
Meanwhile, accounts of atrocities continued to pour out of East Timor.
In one of the most shocking reports, Australian Isa Bradridge said in
an interview published Saturday that his wife saw "thousands of
bodies" piled in a large cell in Dili's police station.
"My wife told me she saw bodies. Thousands of them,"
Bradridge was quoted as saying in Saturday's Sydney Morning Herald.
"Stacks of bodies went up to the roof. I know it is hard to believe
but it is absolutely true. My wife saw arms and legs and dripping
blood."
The claims could not be immediately verified.
'Crimes against humanity'
The U.N. Security Council was due to open debate on the bloodshed in
East Timor on Saturday after Secretary-General Kofi Annan warned Indonesia
that it could face responsibility for crimes in the territory.
Annan told Indonesia to immediately accept a peacekeeping force for
East Timor or face responsibility for "what could amount... to crimes
against humanity."
There was speculation that the U.N. mission might be closed, raising
questions about the world body's ability to shepherd East Timor to
nationhood.
In addition to sheltering the refugees, the compound in Dili is the
headquarters in East Timor for the U.N. elections team, which has been
engulfed by a wave of murders and deportations.
Clinton: Attacks 'unacceptable'
U.S. President Bill Clinton blamed the Indonesian military for backing
the killings by pro-Jakarta militiamen and also urged Jakarta to accept
foreign peacekeepers.
Clinton called the militia attacks on the U.N. compound "simply
unacceptable," and said it was clear the Indonesian military was
"aiding and abetting the militia violence."
The five U.N. ambassadors are to report back to U.N. chief Annan, who
will have to decide whether to keep the U.N. compound in Dili open. The
delegation will also meet with Indonesian President B.J. Habibie on
Sunday.
Martin Andjaba, the Namibian ambassador to the United Nations, was
leading the delegation to the Indonesian province.
At the U.N. compound, many refugees' fright was intensified on Friday,
as drunken militiamen broke into U.N. cars in a parking lot near the
compound, stealing whatever they could and terrifying the East Timorese
still inside.
Indonesian troops fired guns to intimidate the U.N. workers and
refugees. Gunfire sent two elderly women scrambling over the wall into the
compound, shredding their arms on barbed wire.
About 350 U.N. staffers were evacuated Friday from the compound in Dili
and flown to Darwin,
Australia, but about 50 U.N. workers chose to remain at the compound.
"Everyone in the compound is terrified," said Marie Colvin, a
correspondent for the Sunday Times, and one of the few journalists
remaining in East Timor.
Indonesia invaded East Timor in 1975 as it was gaining independence
from Portugal. An estimated 200,000 or more people have been killed in the
fighting since then.
Jakarta
Bureau Chief Maria Ressa, correspondent Tom Mintier, The Associated
Press and Reuters
contributed to this report, which was written by Denise Kalette.
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