NZ troops keep eye on West Timor border

By PHILIP ENGLISH

In the remote highland outpost at Tilomar in East Timor, New Zealand troops stand guard against anti-independence invaders from West Timor.

The mountain-top base for about 130 soldiers of 163 Company of the Third New Zealand Battalion Group is 600m above the coconut palm-fringed coast visible kilometres away.

The wet season means that most of the ground underfoot has turned into thick mud. A constant wind whips at everything not securely tied down.

The site, ruled over for centuries by the Dutch, Portuguese and more recently the Indonesians, is dominated by the ruins of a 400-year-old fortified tower.

A plantation villa built by the Portuguese has been sandbagged and fortified by the New Zealanders.

Out the front is a memorial to Private Leonard Manning, killed by a militia patrol he was tracking on July 24. On the front wall of the villa are other chilling signs of the militias' activities in 1999.

Scratched in charcoal are words that describe the horror that confronted villagers fleeing the area. Someone wrote that the militias had come and that the world was ending.

On another wall are stick-figure drawings of people with guns firing bullets against others armed only with bows and arrows.

The Tilomar base is a few kilometres from the West Timor border. The New Zealand troops are responsible for the security of 50km of border in an area of 270 sq km.

As many as 6500 villagers live in surrounding jungle clearings and barren high-country grassland.

A slow trickle are returning from refugee camps in West Timor.

A short distance from the base is a primitive village. A few white plastic chairs are the only sign of the 21st century among the thatch-roofed houses.

Maubesi was a militia stronghold and until only a few weeks ago was deserted.

Several families have returned, however, and have cleared the village of encroaching jungle.

They are now under the watch of the New Zealand soldiers from the Tilomar base. One, Lieutenant Ben Stallworthy, said: "The first time we arrived, the village men took all the women into the bush and hid them from us.

"The militias or [the Indonesian military] had spread a rumour that Kiwi soldiers killed and ate people. They were quite terrified."

But the New Zealanders now seem welcome in the village. They provide medical help and frequently patrol the area, reinforcing a sense of security. Men and women share frontline duties.

Lieutenant Stallworthy said the New Zealanders were working to win trust and respect.

"We don't look at it as a conflict thing - more that we are helping with the evolution to self-government. It is not about colonisation but developing a nation."

Lieutenant Stallworthy said the area was rugged, with dangerous snakes and scorpions.

"The worst thing, though, is the muggy heat and the wet. Would I come back here to visit? No, not for a personal visit. I'm a city boy. I like bars and ...

"What keeps me here is the satisfaction of the job."

Herald Online feature: Timor mission

UN Transitional Administration in E Timor