Peacekeeping Troops Arrive in East Timor

An Australian-led international peacekeeping force arrived by ship and plane in East Timor today to end weeks of militia violence that has laid waste to the territory and uprooted virtually its entire population.

The first C-130 Hercules transport plane, carrying a contingent of troops from Australia and New Zealand, touched down at Dili’s Comoro Airport at dawn. There was no resistance, and the arriving troops received a cordial welcome from the dozen Indonesian army officers at the airport.

Throughout the morning, Australian cargo planes ferried arms, equipment and troops into the city that has been all but emptied of its civilian population. Commanders of “Operation Stabilize” said that by day’s end they hoped to have 2,500 troops on the ground from half a dozen nations, including Thailand, Britain and the Philippines.

While conceding that the mission is fraught with potential danger, Australian Maj. Gen. Peter Cosgrove, commander of the peacekeeping force, said before leaving the forward staging area here that he was hopeful of receiving full cooperation from the Indonesian military--a step that would dramatically reduce the risks facing the peacekeepers, both in the initial deployment and in the weeks ahead.

The violence was unleashed after East Timor--a former Portuguese colony annexed by Indonesia in 1976--voted Aug. 30 to seek independence. The anti-independence militiamen who proceeded to kill and burn were aided and abetted by Indonesian soldiers who for myriad reasons, ranging from nationalism to the accumulation of personal wealth, did not want to surrender the territory.

Cosgrove told reporters Sunday that he plans to have 3,200 troops on the ground within a week and that the U.N.-sanctioned force will eventually grow to 7,500. It is backed by light tanks, helicopters, five patrol boats and a squadron of F/A-18 Hornets.

The force’s arrival in Dili, the East Timorese capital, comes amid a massive evacuation of Indonesian soldiers and their surrogate militias, which have executed the most vicious and thorough scorched-earth exercise that Southeast Asia has seen since World War II.

“East Timor,” said Toni Pfanner, an Indonesia-based representative of the International Committee of the Red Cross, “has basically been destroyed.”

Eighty percent of Dili has been burned. All warehouses have been looted, all vehicles belonging to international agencies stolen. Out of an original population of 200,000, perhaps only 10,000 remain in the city. Most, too afraid to return to their homes, camped out Sunday night near the harbor to await the peacekeepers’ arrival.

No government and no infrastructure exist in East Timor anymore. Most towns have been burned, many razed. The death toll is believed to reach into the thousands. The territory’s population was 850,000 two months ago; of that total, the Red Cross says, 600,000 have been displaced internally and 200,000 are refugees in West Timor, the Indonesian province that occupies the other half of Timor island.

Once the peacekeepers secure Dili, international aid agencies are preparing for 100,000 or more people to stream back into the capital within days. The agencies are stockpiling tons of emergency food and medical supplies in Darwin and hope to begin a major relief effort by Tuesday.

“The situation is desperate for the refugees,” said Jim Wackett of World Vision, an international aid agency based in Monrovia. “But it’s a difficult mission because there are so many question marks. How many people are in need? Where are they? What’s the security situation? Where do we get the trucks to deliver emergency supplies? No one knows the answers at this point.”

After days of dithering and saying it could restore security in East Timor without foreign intervention, Indonesia relented last week and invited in multinational peacekeepers. After meeting with Cosgrove in Dili on Sunday, East Timor commander Maj. Gen. Kiki Syahnakri said he would cooperate with the mission and hand over command by the end of the week.

Under terms of the United Nations mandate, Cosgrove’s force has what he called “robust” rules of engagement: The peacekeepers will be permitted to fire at any time in self-defense and do whatever is necessary to prevent agitators from interfering with the mission or carrying arms.

Most of the militia leaders and hundreds, perhaps thousands, of their men have withdrawn to West Timor. But the gunmen remaining in East Timor, even though battle-tested mostly against unarmed women and children, still could pose a threat to peacekeepers, particularly as the arriving troops secure the mountainous countryside and the rugged terrain along the border with West Timor.

“Certainly there is a danger, and it is hard to say if the same militias who did this horrible violence to the East Timorese will want to try their hand against a modern, well-equipped army,” Cosgrove said.

Despite the threat--one militia leader, Fernando dos Santos, said Sunday, “Whoever betrays us we will kill, whether they are our fathers or mothers”--the peacekeepers’ task will be made easier because they are not facing mines and booby traps and will have excellent intelligence, both from a civilian population that welcomes their arrival and from U.S. surveillance technology.

The United States is supplying about 200 noncombat men and women, half of whom will remain offshore. Their contribution will be in intelligence, logistics and communications. At least 15 other nations have joined the force, whose deputy commander is a Thai, Maj. Gen. Shongkitti Chakrabhat. Thailand’s contribution to the operation--1,500 personnel--is exceeded only by that of Australia, which will supply about 4,500 troops.

Like Cosgrove, the Clinton administration acknowledged Sunday that the peacekeepers face risks.

“Any mission where you put forces into a situation where there has been conflict has dangers and risks,” National Security Advisor Samuel R. “Sandy” Berger said on NBC-TV’s “Meet the Press.”

But Berger said the United States has “full confidence” in the Australian-led force and pointed out that U.S. and Australian forces have often fought together--during World War II, in Vietnam and Korea, and, more recently, in the 1991 Persian Gulf War.

“If there’s any challenge to this force, I am convinced they will respond sternly and sharply,” Berger said. “The forces are prepared.”

The multinational force is supposed to be a short-term mission that will be replaced by a different U.N. force to help East Timor make the transition to independence and build a new government, Berger noted. The United States has not yet decided whether it will participate in the second force.

Australian Prime Minister John Howard said Sunday that the peacekeepers’ mission could be a lengthy one. He said he expects that Indonesian authorities will cooperate, but he too conceded: “Any mission of this type is dangerous. There is a risk of casualties.”

In a six-minute address to the nation on the eve of the peacekeepers’ departure, Howard said: “We decided to do it [lead the force] not only because it is right but also because it was in our national interest to do so . . . to defend what is right. We wish them Godspeed.”

Times staff writer Robin Wright in Washington contributed to this report.