AUT: Secret Troops in E.Timor (fwd)

["Harry M. Cleaver" <hmcleave@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Tue, 20 Oct 1998 01:21:41 +1300
From: janice <janice@xxxxxxxxxx>
To: mai-not@xxxxxxxxx
Subject: Secret Troops in E.Timor

/** reg.easttimor: 479.0 **/
** Topic: smh: secret troops betraying East Timor **
** Written  7:22 PM  Oct 17, 1998 by rwesley@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx in
cdp:reg.easttimor **
From: Rob Wesley-Smith <rwesley@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: smh: secret troops betraying East Timor

Saturday, October 17, 1998
smh page 1, from smh online

The secret troops betraying Timor

By LOUISE WILLIAMS, Herald Correspondent in Los Palos, East Timor

Less than two weeks after the brass bands and media circus of
Indonesia's "goodwill" withdrawal of combat troops from East Timor in
July, a big barge slid silently to shore under the cover of darkness
on the lonely, distant coast to the east.

Here the locals usually retreat into their scruffy thatch huts as the
sun sets over the brilliant turquoise ocean and endless white-sand
beaches, their lives long defined by the grinding cycle of poverty,
war and military abuse.

But, on the night of August 8 this year, villagers in the coastal
settlements of Com and Lautem heard the soldiers coming back. Those
who ventured out say at least 20 trucks full of commandos and marines
crawled slowly up the winding road into the mountains, their lights
off.

Ten days later, another barge of soldiers was seen heading through the
crystal waters to the crumbling Portuguese port town of Lore. In May,
with the fall of the Soeharto Government, the East Timorese had been
buoyed by the first hopes of peace for 23 years, under promises of
reform by the incoming President, Dr Jusuf Habibie. By June, talks
between their spiritual leader, the Nobel Laureate, Bishop Carlos Belo,
and President Habibie had secured a promise of a gradual end to
military occupation and a search for a new peace formula.

The East Timorese Governor, Abilio Soares, spoke from the docks of
Dili of Indonesia's "honour" as hundreds of troops boarded ships to
leave in July.

But this week, Bishop Belo and the UN Secretary-General, Kofi Annan,
were forced to call again for an end to Indonesian military activity.
In Dili, a senior military officer confirmed troop numbers had not
been cut.  Those withdrawn during July's public relations exercise had
been replaced.  "It is correct we haven't reduced numbers. This is
just a normal troop rotation," said Lieutenant Colonel Supadi, Chief
of Staff in Dili, after the city was shut down by three days of
protests over the new military operations.

There are reports of paramilitary groups being re-armed, fanning fears
of civil war, says an informed Catholic Church source. He adds: "It
seems nothing much has changed. The troops were withdraw for a while,
but now they are back. The people were told not to go out into their
fields because the soldiers would be carrying out operations in the
bush."

** End of text from cdp:reg.easttimor **

***************************************************************************
This material came from the Institute for Global Communications (IGC), a
non-profit, unionized, politically progressive Internet services provider.
For more information, send a message to igc-info@xxxxxxx (you will get
back an automatic reply), or visit their web site at http://www.igc.org/ .
IGC is a project of the Tides Center, a 501(c)(3) charitable organization.
***************************************************************************

janice




--
For MAI-not (un)subscription information, posting guidelines and
links to other MAI sites please see http://mai.flora.org/



     --- from list aut-op-sy@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx ---