Thousands Flee East Timor Violence

DILI, Indonesia -- Driven by fear, killings and army gunfire, panic-stricken East Timorese fled Tuesday, as Indonesian soldiers rounded up thousands of residents and forced them aboard ships leaving the territory.


The increasingly powerless Indonesian government imposed martial law in the province, saying it would stem the violence unleashed by its own troops and their anti-independence militia proxies. But the order did not stop the violence.


"I would not say the declaration of martial law has done anything to secure the situation,'' said a UN information officer in the organization's besieged compound in the provincial capital, Dili.


Bands of pro-Indonesian militia set houses ablaze, fired rocket-propelled grenades and bazookas, and shouted through megaphones for those remaining in the city to get out.


Witnesses said both militiamen and Indonesian troops loaded people onto trucks and sent them to West Timor, an Indonesian province that shares the island with East Timor.


"There's still a lot of shooting all around us,'' the UN officer said, speaking on condition of anonymity more than 12 hours after martial law took effect.


The United Nations said in a statement issued in Dili that the organization's compound in the eastern town of Baucau came under sustained gunfire Tuesday. About 140 UN staffers and other international workers were being evacuated. More than 2,500 refugees from the fighting were still in the UN compound.


With several nations suggesting it was time for an international peacekeeping force, Jakarta's imposition of martial law came after senior Indonesian officials finally acknowledged that they had lost control of the situation. Indonesia rejected the idea of international peacekeepers out of hand.


"Indonesia doesn't need any foreign military intervention in East Timor because we have all the capability to handle the situation,'' said Defense Minister General Wiranto.


Foreign Minister Ali Alatas said martial law includes the authority for searches without warrants, a curfew to keep people off the streets and "the shooting on sight of people who go against the curfew.''


Roman Catholic Bishop Carlos Belo, winner of the 1996 Nobel Peace Prize, escaped the violence East Timor on an evacuation flight to Darwin, Australia, and appealed to the world to help his desperate homeland. A pro-Indonesia mob burned his house down Monday night.


Belo, who has long agitated peacefully for Timorese independence, said his people "were unable to fight the waves of violence. The international community should act immediately to protect the people. We feel that we are no longer safe.''


There is already a large contingent of Indonesian troops and police in the territory. The military has been actively supporting and working with the violent militias loyal to Indonesia, which invaded the former Portuguese colony in 1975. An estimated 200,000 or more civilians have been killed in the 25 years since.


The violence escalated rapidly after East Timor's 800,000 people opted for independence from Indonesia in a UN-supervised referendum last week.


Belo said he feared his country was being made "empty'' as some 100,000 East Timorese - one eighth of the population - were reported to be fleeing an orgy of burnings, shootings and killings.


UN officials evacuated 300 election workers Monday, and the pullout continued Tuesday.


"There were thousands of people at the dock and more arriving in columns on foot, with Indonesian soldiers forcing them at gunpoint and firing above their heads,'' said an East Timorese man who sought refuge at the UN compound. Other witnesses said they saw towns burning around the country.


But in New York, a spokesman for Indonesia's UN Mission, Tatang Razak, said the military is helping the many people who want to leave East Timor.


"The Indonesian Navy has provided some ships to help people because of limitations of transportation. Right now what is happening in East Timor is exodus. So I don't think the Indonesian military is forcing people to go out,'' Razak said.


The United States expressed alarm about violence by Indonesian soldiers and police, saying Indonesia must quell the disorder or invite in outside forces.


U.S. President Bill Clinton spoke with Australian Prime Minister John Howard, who has offered to send troops. Portugal, France, Australia, Thailand and Britain say they support sending in a UN force.


A Security Council delegation was due to arrive in Jakarta, the national capital, Wednesday in a last-ditch effort to persuade President B.J. Habibie to rein in his military.


But foreign diplomats in the Indonesian capital said they doubted that the army - which has grown increasingly assertive in recent months - would heed any orders from the government. Many of Indonesia's top generals are loathe to give up East Timor, fearing that other restive provinces may be encouraged to break away if East Timor goes free.


The Indonesian government freed charismatic East Timorese rebel leader Jose Alexandre "Xanana'' Gusmao, who had been under house arrest in Jakarta, hoping that he could help calm the situation.


"I promise as a free man I will do everything to bring peace to East Timor and its people,'' said Gusmao, 53, who has been suggested as a likely first president of an independent East Timor.


However, none of the forces tearing Gusmao's native land apart are under his control.