UN mission to tell Jakarta it must disband militias

NEW YORK - The Security Council intends to send a mission to Indonesia next week to investigate the resurgence of military strikes against United Nations relief workers and Timorese civilians trapped in refugee camps.

The delegation will "convey a strong message to the Government of Indonesia" to disarm and disband militias in the West Timor refugee camps and bring those responsible for the attacks to justice, according to diplomats who attended a closed council session yesterday. The Jakarta Government would also be urged to devise a "credible programme for the safe return of the refugees," says a document circulated among council members.

United States Defence Secretary William Cohen is expected to convey a similar message to Jakarta during his visit next week.

UN relief workers fled Indonesian West Timor after a militia-led mob stormed an office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees in Atambua last week, killing three UN employees and three civilians.

The militias, originally organised by the Indonesian Army, went on the rampage in East Timor a year ago after Timorese voted overwhelmingly for independence from Jakarta.

The gangs were quelled by Australian-led troops and fled over the border to Indonesian West Timor, herding hundreds of thousands of Timorese with them into squalid camps.

The militiamen and their Army supporters have been in West Timor for the past year. Of the 200,000 East Timorese who went over the border, 100,000 still remain and were assisted by UN and other aid groups.

The situation is an embarrassment for the UN, which is leading East Timor to independence, as well as for Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid.

His Government apparently is unable to control the military, which once had free reign over the sprawling archipelago.

The Security Council mission, which will probably include Britain and the US, is likely to be led by Ambassador Martin Andjaba of Namibia. A similar mission a year ago convinced the then-Government of Indonesia to allow Australia to send troops to East Timor, before the territory was officially handed to the UN.

Diplomats said the council would have to decide on what action would have to be taken after the mission, which will go to Jakarta and possibly East or West Timor.

US Ambassador Richard Holbrooke said last week that a February decision not to establish an international tribunal for the militia or a UN-Indonesian joint tribunal "must also now be reviewed."

Holbrooke's comments, echoed by East Timor's independence leaders, came before the Security Council unanimously adopted a resolution insisting that Indonesia immediately disarm and disband the militias that slaughtered the UN aid workers.

"We have great respect for President Wahid," Holbrooke said.

"But let's be clear. Directly or indirectly it is elements within the Indonesian military responsible for this who could have been removed a long time ago."

- REUTERS

Herald Online feature: the Timor mission

UN Transitional Administration in E Timor