Indonesia's effort to disarm West Timor militia "pathetic,"
UN mission says
25 September -- The head of the United Nations Transitional Administration in East Timor (UNTAET) today described as "pathetic" Indonesia's effort to disarm the militia in West Timor, after a UN delegation attending a disarmament ceremony in the area was threatened by militia supporters.
UNTAET chief Sergio Vieira de Mello said he was not surprised by the ineffectiveness of the Indonesian Government's current phase of "persuading" the militia to surrender their weapons. "I personally never took the persuasive phase seriously. What I am interested in, as from this morning, is whether the repressive phase -- which is the one I believe can work -- will be more effective," he said, referring to the Government of Indonesia's pledge to use force after the initial voluntary hand-over period, if it believes the militias are still hiding arms.
Mr. Vieira de Mello's comments came in reaction to events that followed a disarmament ceremony yesterday in Atambua, which was attended by a small UN delegation and Indonesian Vice-President Megawati Sukarnoputri, Coordinating Minister for Political, Social and Security Affarirs Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and other senior representatives from Indonesia.
After the ceremony and the departure of the Vice-President and her high-level delegation, militia leader Eurico Guterres entered the building "highly agitated," in the company of some followers, UNTAET said. Outside, a crowd of 200-300 men chanted in support of the militia leader and against the "malai," or foreigners. The UN team was able to leave the police headquarters one hour later, under heavy escort, once the crowd had dispersed.
According to Mr. Vieira de Mello, yesterday's events illustrate the inability of the Indonesian authorities to bring the militia under control. "Hence my repeated calls to the Indonesian Government to have [Eurico Guterres] and other militia commanders arrested as a matter of urgency," he said. "That definitely will lend credibility to the disarming and dismantling process."
Indonesia's disarmament effort was launched on Friday following the murder of three UN staff in Atambua and the adoption of Security Council resolution 1319, which called on Indonesia to take steps to disarm the groups. At the Atambua ceremony, only about 1,000 weapons - mostly home-made - had been put on display.
Mr. Vieira de Mello, who is on his way today to New York, is scheduled to brief the Security Council on Friday about the situation in East and West Timor.
