By Heather Paterson

Indonesian authorities have not cracked down on anti-independence militias in refugee camps in West Timor because they are afraid of a wider uprising, a senior U.N. peacekeeper in East Timor said Sunday. Australian army Brig. Duncan Lewis blamed a lack of resolve by Indonesia to stamp out militia activity in the camps, which are home to tens of thousands of refugees from East Timor.

The refugees fled the violence and destruction that broke out in East Timor when pro-Indonesian militias refused to accept the results of a ballot 11 months ago. The people of East Timor voted overwhelmingly for independence from Indonesia, which invaded in 1975. "Indonesia is unwilling or incapable of clamping down vigorously on the militia groups for fear of creating wider community disruption," Lewis said.

Indonesia announced last week that it wanted to close the camps that are home to about 90,000 East Timorese. The camps have been used as training and recruitment grounds for militia groups and springboards for attacks into East Timor. Two militiamen were killed by Australian peacekeepers inside East Timor, near the border last week.

Lewis said the men belonged to the Luxor militia group, one of many armed and trained by the Indonesian military in the lead-up to the violence. He said all of the militia men his troops have come in contact with have identified themselves as belonging to one of the militia groups which were active in East Timor last year.

New Zealand peacekeeper Pvt. Leonard Manning was killed by another militia gang last month. The brigadier said the two incidents and the two militia groups were not linked. The peacekeeping force was also tracing the serial numbers on the automatic rifles and grenades for origins of the weapons found with the dead militiamen.

"There are still militia in the area where the contact occurred last week. We've been following up two bands that are still in the area, and we will continue to follow them until they're found," Lewis said. About 2,500 peacekeepers are patrolling the border. Their efforts were boosted Sunday by the arrival of four Blackhawk helicopters from Australia. The Blackhawks have night vision capability.

Meanwhile, the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Mary Robinson, who was in the town of Suai, 120 miles southwest of Dili, called for the return of the bodies of the victims of a massacre at the town's cathedral 11 months ago.

She met with a group of survivors of the massacre who also demanded justice, even though the refugees have not been allowed to return to East Timor. "Justice can't wait for everything to be somehow resolved. It's time for things to move along and for there to be prosecutions before the court and justice to be done, even before the refugees are brought back," Robinson said.