---------------------------------------------------------- FREE for JOIN Indonesia Daily News Online via EMAIL: go to: http://www.indo-news.com/subscribe.html - FREE - FREE - FREE - FREE - FREE - FREE - Please Visit Our Sponsor http://www.indo-news.com/cgi-bin/ads1 ---------------------------------------------------------- Precedence: bulk The Times [London] September 24 1999=20 Janine di Giovanni witnesses events turning sour on the fourth day of=20 liberation=20 FEARFUL REFUGEES HEAD BACK FOR THE HILLS=20 IT IS the dry season in Dili and a strange, forceful wind blows through the= =20 town. Suddenly the wide streets, which two days ago were full of refugees=20 returning home, are deserted.=20 On the beach, mattresses and plastic chairs that served as makeshift homes= =20 are quickly being loaded on to taxis. By the porch, which was recently full= =20 of sleeping mats and screaming children, there is a disturbing stillness. The refugees do not feel welcome in Dili.=20 "We're going back to the mountains," said Joao, who refused to give his last= =20 name but who was walking towards Dare in the hills with his wife and two=20 children, carrying heavy sacks of rice. "It's still not safe, the militias= =20 are everywhere."=20 On the fourth day of liberated Dili, things are turning sour. It is partly= =20 the presence of militia attempting to regroup and re-establish their=20 footholds, partly the aftermath of the murder of a Dutch journalist and=20 partly the absence of aid workers and a civilian population, aside from the= =20 media. Despite the UN's robust efforts, it appears that the militias are=20 shifting the balance of power.=20 Since Wednesday the refugees have been turning around, packing up and going= =20 back to their mountain hiding places. Yesterday a lorryload of long-haired= =20 Indonesian Army territorial soldiers approached a UN checkpoint as if to test how far they could go, before turning south and heading towards the= port=20 where they fired their guns in the air on three occasions. A lorryload of=20 BMP, one of the more vicious militias, rode brazenly through the town and=20 there were reports of rogue militiamen roaming the streets.=20 There has been a steady exodus of journalists since the murder and tension is high. The Hotel Turismo, where some journalists and Australian troops are= =20 staying, is being reinforced with extra barbed wire, and evacuation plans for journalists are discussed during briefings.=20 Philip Marr, an aid worker with World Vision, which has had a development=20 programme here for five years, said: "It looks like it's turning into a ghost town. It's pretty eerie, eerier than it was before."=20 Mr Marr is one of the few aid workers in town. The Red Cross and the UN=20 refugees' agency have maintained a skeletal staff but yesterday M=E9dicin du= =20 Monde arrived in Dili, turned round, and flew back to Darwin.=20 The UN denies that there is a need for panic but the Australian soldiers seem extremely tense. - Australia's military urged journalists to leave East Timor yesterday. A=20 spokesman said that more than 300 foreign reporters were in East Timor but= =20 the peacekeeping mission could provide protection only for the 41 journalists who accompanied the first wave of troops. ### ---------- SiaR WEBSITE: http://apchr.murdoch.edu.au/minihub/siarlist/maillist.html ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Didistribusikan tgl. 25 Sep 1999 jam 13:13:15 GMT+1 oleh: Indonesia Daily News Online <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> http://www.Indo-News.com/ ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
