Source: http://www.cnn.com/ASIANOW/southeast/9909/11/e.timor.02/
Accessed 11 September 1999

U.N. delegation encounters smoking ruins in East Timor

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.

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."

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.

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.

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.