E. Timor Rebels Enter Capital, Block U.N. Site

Armed independence fighters broke their pledge not to enter East Timor’s capital, arriving in Dili on Friday and briefly blocking the commander of a multinational peacekeeping force from a U.N. compound.

But the guerrillas’ breach of their agreement with the international force will not hurt ties with the U.N. mission in East Timor, said Sergio Vieira de Mello, the United Nations’ chief envoy here.

Under the agreement, members of the Falintil rebel group that resisted Indonesian rule for almost 25 years can carry their arms only within designated areas.

Independence leader Jose Alexandre “Xanana” Gusmao broke the agreement when 20 of his men, bearing rifles and grenades, escorted him to Dili for his first formal meeting with De Mello, who succeeded Ian Martin as the U.N. representative to the territory Friday.

The guerrillas briefly kept Australian Maj. Gen. Peter Cosgrove, the head of the peacekeeping force, from entering the U.N. compound, which Gusmao was visiting.

“This is clearly, clearly in violation of the policies we have set under the mandate and therefore an item of some note,” Cosgrove said later.

Gusmao refused to comment.

The peacekeepers arrived Sept. 20 to quell the violence unleashed after East Timorese voted overwhelmingly on Aug. 30 for independence from Indonesia.