UNITED NATIONS, SEPT 14: Indonesia has agreed to deployment of multinational troops without any conditions in violence-ravaged East Timor, apparently clearing way for an early induction of an Australian-led force.Foreign Minister Ali Alatas said on Monday that his country would like deployment of a multinational force as early as possible without any conditions as to which countries should or should not participate. Indonesia is prepared to turn over the responsibity of security of East Timor to any international force, he said.
Talking to reporters after a meeting with United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan, Altas said there were some problems with Australia and said Jakarata would like to have Asian countries' troops in the force. ``But that is not a condition,'' he said.
His statement appears to clear way for deployment despite statements from the Indonesian army that forces from Australia, New Zealand and Portugal were not acceptable.
Alatas is expected continue talks on details and"cooperation" between peacekeepers and the Indonesian army, which would continue to have a presence in East Timor. But he did say the peacekeepers are expected to take over.
US Ambassador Richard Holbrooke was more cautious when he called for early deployment but said ``the devil is in details.'' His statement came as the Security Council began drafting a resolution authorising such a force and putting together the nuts and bolts. But officials are confident that the force could deployed in days.
Earlier, the five ambassadors, who went to Jakarta to urge President B J Habibie to accept an multinational force, briefed the Council.
Australia plans to send some 4,500 troops and first deployments could come as early as 24 hours of authorisation and presence in another 48 hours.
The UN pefers a multinational force rather than its own peacekeepers. One of the reasons is that the world body takes quite some time to assemble a force and equipment but nations could send their troops much faster. Altas said hiscountry would accept any type of force andhas no preference but would like to be deployed quickly.
Violence broke in the predominantly Roman Catholic Timor after people overwhelmingly voted in favour of independence in a referendum organised by the UN with the consent of Indonesia on August 30.
Pro-Indonesian militias killed hundreds of people suspected to have voted for independence, burned businesses and houses leading to hundreds of thousand taking shelter in forests or leaving the territory.
UN closes Dili office
DILI: To the echo of sporadic gunfire in the distance, the United Nations closed its besieged compound in East Timor on Tuesday, flying out 110 staff and 1,300 refugees who had become hostage to marauding militia and Indonesian troops.A dozen UN personnel led by a Bangladeshi Brigadier General stayed behind and relocated in the Australian consulate, not far from Dili's airport, to prepare the way for an imminent intervention by international peacekeepers to save hundreds ofthousands of refugees.
Within hours of the evacuation, UN staff members still in Dili reported that a black plume of smoke was rising from the direction of the abandoned compound, said Fernando Del Mundo, of the UN High Commission for refugees in Jakarta.
They fear their headquarters had been attacked and set afire by militiamen who had laid seige to it for days, he said. Chaos still gripped the territorial capital and it was impossible to verify the report.
With militiamen still roaming Dili and the homeless combing ruined shops for food, the UN Security Council in New York raced against time to negotiate the force with a balky Indonesia. The UN staff and refugees were evacuated under the guard of Indonesian troops through burned-out, looted streets to the airport.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Copyright © 1999 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
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