Australia said on Thursday it was confident the Indonesian military was not involved in recent violence on the East Timor border and rejected a report that militia activity in the area was increasing.
The Australian newspaper reported that the United Nations chief in East Timor, Sukehiro Hasegawa, had expressed concern the Indonesian military was behind a weekend incident at Oecussi, an East Timor enclave that lies within Indonesian territory.
Quoting from a cable it said was sent by Hasegawa to UN headquarters in New York, the newspaper said he feared the enclave could become a flashpoint.
It said a mob of about 200 people attacked East Timor police in the area on Saturday as Indonesian soldiers looked on.
”Seven TNI [Indonesian] soldiers were seen at the rear of the group, clearly condoning, if not encouraging, this action,” the cable reportedly said.
Australia, which angered Jakarta by supporting East Timor’s successful push for independence, said it had received no reports of Indonesia provoking border violence.
”There is no TNI involvement and both TNI and the East Timorese police have been monitoring this situation,” Downer told reporters.
”The point that I would make is that this is not a resumption of militia activity of the sort we saw in 1999,” he said.
”These are land disputes as a result of the delineation of the border — nothing more or nothing less than that and I don’t think there’s any value to be gained in exaggerating the dimensions of the problem.”
Militia gangs, which the United Nations said were recruited and directed by Indonesia’s military, went on an arson and killing spree before and after East Timorese voted for independence in a UN-sponsored ballot in August 1999.
They killed about 1 400 independence supporters and laid waste to much of the infrastructure in the half-island which Indonesia invaded in 1975.
Indonesia set up a court to try members of the security forces and others accused over the violence but all the accused military and police officers have been acquitted, sparking international criticism.
The governments of both Indonesia and East Timor say they want to move on from the past.
East Timor gained full independence in May 2002 after more than two years of United Nations stewardship. – AFP
