U.S. Sends Copters, Troops to East Timor

The United States deployed helicopters and support personnel to bolster international troops in East Timor on Saturday, while the force’s commander announced a plan to secure peace in the shattered territory.

Australian Maj. Gen. Peter Cosgrove said his strategy calls for the disarmament of both pro-Indonesia and pro-independence fighters--seen as a crucial step in rebuilding East Timor and ensuring the safety of its traumatized population.

A U.N. spokesman, meanwhile, said Indonesian authorities still could not guarantee humanitarian aid groups safe access to about 200 refugee camps along the East-West Timor border. The camps are controlled by militiamen said to be terrorizing refugees and blocking their return to East Timor.

New Zealanders in the international peacekeeping force clashed Saturday with pro-Indonesian militia forces near the West Timor border, killing one militiaman, a spokesman said. He said the fight occurred about 65 miles southwest of Dili.

Michel Barton said the U.N. is now reporting that more than 260,000 East Timorese--out of a population of 850,000--have fled to West Timor, which Indonesia controls.

The plan Cosgrove outlined Saturday--aimed at ending the violence and rebuilding East Timor as an independent country--involves disarmament, reconciliation between citizens who are for and those who are against independence, and building a national government and infrastructure in East Timor.

Brig. Gen. John G. Castellaw of the U.S. Marine Corps said four CH-53 Sea Stallion helicopters, based on the amphibious assault ship Belleau Wood anchored off Dili, will be available to the multinational force starting today or Monday.

About 120 U.S. Army communications specialists and two dozen experts in “civil-military affairs” arrived to coordinate activities among peacekeepers, the U.N. and private agencies providing humanitarian assistance.

The Clinton administration has provided nearly 300 troops to help with logistical and intelligence-gathering activities.