---------------------------------------------------------- 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 TROOPS HUNT MILITIAS Sydney Morning Herald 6 October 1999 Maubisse, East Timor: Australian troops moved into East Timor's southern region yesterday, apparently on a mission to disarm two of the last remaining militia strongholds. Up to 40 Australian troops in trucks, armoured personnel carriers, Land Rovers and motorcycles set off before dawn towards the mountainous central region south of Dili. They passed through the town of Maubisse, in the central highlands, where the local priest, Father Matteus Alfonce, said he had given the soldiers information about the presence of Mahidi (Live or Die for Integration) militias in the southern centres of Baetano and Cassa. The Mahidi, among the most fiercely pro-Indonesian of the militia groups, are known to be well-organised and disciplined. Led by brothers Cancio and Nenezio Carvalho, they are understood to be dug in at the two towns after pro-independence Falintil forces cut off their intended line of retreat to West Timor. "They're trapped. They have no support from anyone, but we know they still have at least 20 guns," Father Alfonce said. Reports indicated they were holding the people of Baetano and Cassa as hostages. Thailand's Major-General Songkitti Chakkabatr is due to arrive in East Timor today to take up his position as deputy commander of the multinational force. A Thai military spokesman in Bangkok said he would be followed within days by the first contingent of Thai soldiers. Meanwhile, an East Timorese farmer claims to have seen the insignia on the Indonesian Army uniforms worn by men who shot dead a Dutch journalist in East Timor last month. The farmer told the Christian Science Monitor he saw soldiers in uniforms bearing the insignia of Battalion 745, a unit of East Timorese loyal to Indonesia, shoot journalist Sander Thoenes on September 21. The farmer said he had testified to United Nations investigators, who have recently interviewed other witnesses about Thoenes' death. Major-General Peter Cosgrove, the Australian head of the UN-backed intervention force in East Timor, said on Monday he had asked the Indonesian military to make four of its officers available for questioning about Thoenes' death. He said he had not yet received a response. ---------- SiaR WEBSITE: http://apchr.murdoch.edu.au/minihub/siarlist/maillist.html ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Didistribusikan tgl. 7 Oct 1999 jam 07:07:47 GMT+1 oleh: Indonesia Daily News Online <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> http://www.Indo-News.com/ ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
