---------------------------------------------------------- Visit Indonesia Daily News Online HomePage: http://www.indo-news.com/ Please Visit Our Sponsor http://www.indo-news.com/cgi-bin/ads1 ---------------------------------------------------------- Pro-Indonesia militias pack Dili as independence chosen DILI, East Timor, Sept 4 (AFP) - Hundreds of pro-Indonesian militiamen roamed through the East Timorese capital Dili early Saturday as fear gripped the territory with the United Nations announcing an overwhelming vote in favour of independence. In Jakarta, jailed East Timorese separatist leader Xanana Gusmao urged the UN Security Council to urgently send an international peacekeeping force to prevent a "genocide" following the result. At Dili's Mahkota hotel, where the result was released simultaneously with UN chief Kofi Annan's announcement in New York, there were tears of joy to news that 78.5 percent of voters had rejected autonomy. A young hotel employee, her eyes brimming with tears, threw her arms around an AFP correspondent and whispered in a choked voice: "I am so happy." Carlos, an interpreter, paid tribute to the UN Mission in East Timor (UNAMET), which organised last Monday's self-determination vote. "I am happy. It was how I voted. This was the democratic way. I am very grateful to UNAMET ... it was honest, just and fair. Hopefully no one comes and disturbs it," he said. But outside the hotel, whole areas of Dili were deserted as fearful residents had fled to the hills for safety ahead of the ballot announcement, Indonesian police spokesman Captain Widodo said he was crying for the loss of the territory as he told an East Timorese acquaintance: "Let's stay in touch, we are friends." Only 94,388 people, or 21 percent, wanted to stay a part of Indonesia, which invaded the former Portuguese territory in 1975. Gusmao issued a statement from his house jail calling on Annan "to convene an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council to decide on the sending of multinational forces to save the Maubere (East Timorese) people from a new genocide." Exiled independence campaigner Jose Ramos-Horta acclaimed the result and East Timor's bravery in resisting "criminal elements (and) hardliners." "I am overjoyed. First I pay tribute to my extraordinary people -- what a courage, what a lesson of courage and democracy," he told CNN in New York. The Nobel peace laureate also called on autonomy supporters not to flee. "They have not lost, they have a won a country. Those 21 percent who voted for autonomy, they must stay on in East Timor. They are children, sons and daughters of East Timor." Truckloads of Besi Merah Putih (Red and White) militiamen were seen entering Dili to join the predominant Aitarak militia, which has waged a campaign of terror over past months. About 100 meters (yards) beyond the police cordon outside the Mahkota hotel, an orange truck filled with Red and White Iron members carrying M-16 assault rifles pulled up. Aitarak militiamen were roaming downtown Dili on motorcycles. Sporadic shooting was heard in the city through Friday night, and motorists said there was no fuel available. At a central tailors, employees were nailing boards over the front windows. "There are no customers," they said. When shown the vote result, one said: "We are happy." Anxiety was high over the likely reaction to the ballot by the militias, whom many observers charge are backed by the Indonesian military. Jim Dunn, the last Australian consul in East Timor before the Indonesian invasion and who has devoted his life since to academic works on the territory, believed the militias were carrying out a carefully planned, "systematic reign of terror." Dunn said he did not believe Indonesian armed forces chief General Wiranto was behind the violence, but there were "powerful figures with property and vested interests" backing the militias. "There is no doubt in my mind that the militia is not an East Timorese phenomenon. If it were turned off, it would quickly fade away. The next 24 hours will be very telling." It was unclear whether other pro-Indonesians would accept the result. Basilio Araujo on Friday said his umbrella United Front for East Timor Autonomy had suspended recognition of the vote because of alleged irregularites. Jakarta on Friday night sent in 1,400 crack troops, apparently to help secure the capital, as international calls grew for a neutral peacekeeping force for East Timor. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Didistribusikan tgl. 4 Sep 1999 jam 06:26:36 GMT+1 oleh: Indonesia Daily News Online <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> http://www.Indo-News.com/ ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
