Fw: New pro-Indonesia group in E.Timor (fwd)

[rc-am]

[Guterres was part of the official Indonesian Govt welcoming party for
the UN's Commissioner on Refugees who visited the camps in west timor a
couple of days ago.  and, there is certainly a move to enforce a
partition on the ground, a partitioning of the coffee plantations to be
precise. estimates of militia numbers are certainly overblown.  a report
last night suggested that only around 20% of all the militia were
committed, and one journalist described how some of the militia would
refer to the bulk of their number as "neck militia", ie., they are
afraid of their own necks and this is why they join.  whether a band of
paid, reluctant mercenaries, made up mostly of lumpenised youth from
west timor and indonesian military will be able to effect partition
remains to be seen.  the connected issue of what happens in indonesia
over the next couple of months (with the security bill, the presidential
and deputy pres elections, etc.  might well determine much of this.
and, a brief note: there is no widespread level of 'anti-western'
sentiment in indonesia at the moment, unless one describes the rallies
of military families and the vestiges of Golkar as 'widespread'.  -
Angela.]

Agence France Presse

New pro-Indonesia coalition group, including militia, set up in ETimor

     JAKARTA, Sept 20 (AFP) - Pro-Jakarta groups in East Timor,

     including the armed militias who burned the capital of Dili, have

     signalled they have not given up the fight and are regrouping.

     The chilling message reached Jakarta Monday, by television and

     through the state Antara news agency, as the first heavily-armed

     international troops landed in relays at Dili's Comoro airport from

     northern Australia.

     Four main groups had gathered in front of "hundreds" of people just

     inside the East Timorese border Sunday to form a new coalition, the

     National Unity Front (FPB), to "defend" their ties with Indonesia,

     they said.

     The message they sent was mixed.

     Speaking at the inaugural meeting in the town of Balibo Antara

     quoted the leaders of the coalition, new at least in name, as

     saying they would not attack the Australian-led peacekeepers.

     "We will not attack the UN peacekeeping troops," the front's deputy

     chairman Joao da Silva Tavares told the SCTV private Indonesian

     television.

     But Tavares said the Front sought to defend "our territory."

     And the official declaration said they would "defend the wholeness

     of the Unitary State of the republic of Indonesia and free East

     Timor from the chains of neo-colonialism and the grips of new

     colonialists."

     "The proclamation of the National Unity Front is purely to unify

     steps in defending integration," said Domingos Soares, the

     executive chairman of the new group.

     The declaration was made at the site of the "Integration monument"

     in Balibo where several East Timorese leaders in 1975 called for

     the integration of the former Portuguese colony with Indonesia.

     Monday, the UN-sanctioned International Force for East Timor began

     to deploy soldiers and is expected to have 2,500 men in place by

     the end of Tuesday, the Indonesian military said.

     The new pro-integration group, according to Antara, read out a

     three point declaration that included the establishment of the

     Front, which they called "the sole forum for the struggle of

     fighters."

     They also declared all previous pro-Indonesia groups disbanded.

     Soares said the Front was established in the face of "fraud and

     irregularities" by the UN Mission in East Timor (UNAMET) while

     organizing the ballot on the future of East Timor on August 30.

     "The collusion between UNAMET and the East Timorese separatists has

     caused UNAMET to act unfairly. They made every effort to allow the

     aims of international conspirators to be reached," he said.

     Pro-Indonesian supporters, who lost the ballot and rampaged through

     the territory's cities in an orgy of burning, have accused UNAMET

     of fraud.

     The outcome of the ballot, announced on September 4 showed 78.5

     percent of voters opted for breaking away from Indonesia which

     invaded it in 1975 and annexed it the following year.

     Voting to remain with Indonesia under a broad autonomy were 21.5

     percent.

     The armed pro-Indonesia militia in their unchecked campaign of

     terror and violence following the announcement of the results,

     killed pro-independentists and forced hundreds of thousands of

     people to flee for their lives.

     The violence led to an international outcry that in turn led the

     United Nations to deploy a multinational force to restore law and

     order.

     Eurico Guterres, one of the main militia commanders in the Dili

     area, has repeated several times his men would not touch the

     peacekeepers if they confined themselves to the east.

     But Guterres warned against trying to operate in the fertile

     western border areas.

     In Jakarta, Indonesian military spokesman Major General Sudrajat

      estimated the pro-Jakarta militia had around 50,000

     followers, but gave no estimate of their fire power.

     The International force in East Timor (Interfet) is expected to

     have a full strength of 7,500 men, but with heavy weapons, tanks,

     backup warships and planes.

     "I heard Guterres claims to have 50,000 men. But you'd better ask

     him again," Sudrajat told journalists.

     Guterres is the leader of the notorious Dili-based Aitarak (Thorn)

     militia, which laid Dili to waste in just a week earlier this

     month. He was seen in West Timor Sunday by an AFP journalist in the

     company of provincial military officials.

     "It is difficult to put it quantitatively," Sudrajat said when

     asked his own estimate of the militias' strength.

     Guterres, who is also deputy commander of the main militia group

     Pro-Integration Forces (PPI) which was absorbed into the Front,

     said the militia will put eight of the territory's 13 districts,

     districts he claimed were militia strongholds, off limits to the

     international force.