Pro-Jakarta militias are blamed for many deaths The Indonesian Government says it is committed to disarming the militia groups held responsible for the murders of three United Nations aid workers in West Timor last week. The three men died when a mob attacked the UN offices in the town of Atambua, sparking an emergency evacuation from the area of all UN workers.

Police chief General Rusdihardjo said firearms and other weapons being illegally held by militiamen would be confiscated following the killings. He said negotiations had been taking place between the Indonesian armed forces and national police about the logistics of the disarmament.

"We will use the penal code that in essence allows the confiscation of firearms and other weapons in illegal possession, following the incident in Atambua," said General Rusdihardjo.

The BBC's correspondent in Jakarta, Clive Myrie, says the Indonesian authorities have been accused in the past of failing to carry out similar pledges, and many observers will see the new comments as similarly empty rhetoric.

The militias are opposed to independence in neighbouring East Timor, and were blamed for much of the violence which swept across the province after voters backed autonomy last year. More than 120,000 refugees from East Timor are still living in camps across the border in the west, where they were being cared for by the UN until last week's emergency evacuation.

The UN has warned that thousands of the refugees are now in danger of running out of food.

According to General Rusdihardjo, firmer steps will now be taken to improve the security situation in West Timor.

Criticised

Two battalions, and some 1,200 soldiers and police officers, have been sent to the region, along with investigators dealing with the UN murders. However, elements within the Indonesian army are widely seen as backing the militias, prompting concerns over whether boosting the army's presence in West Timor will prove an effective measure against them.

Indonesian president Abdurrahman Wahid was criticised at last week's UN Millennium Summit in New York for not doing enough to control the militia gangs. Our correspondent says there is little doubt that he was stung by the criticism.