Global Policy Forum

By Geoff Spencer

Dili, Indonesia - Rampaging anti-independence militiamen shot and then hacked to death a man outside the U.N. compound in East Timor's capital today in the most brazen outburst of violence since the territory's historic independence referendum this week. Hundreds of militiamen armed with homemade guns, military rifles and machetes clashed with rock throwing independence supporters outside the headquarters of the U.N. mission that had overseen Monday's vote on whether East Timor should become independent from Indonesia.

``The militia were firing shots all around. The pro-independence people panicked and lots of them ran to the shelter of the U.N. compound,'' Associated Press Television News cameraman Dean Johnson said. The militiamen, who are backed by elements of the Indonesian military, also set fire to a nearby house and a roadside shack, and black smoke hovered above.

The U.N. compound did not appear to be the target of the attack, and officials said no one entered. The violence happened under the gaze of the unarmed U.N. police officers who sealed off the compound. Several people were injured, initial reports said. It was unclear if U.N. personnel were among them. About 150 people - including U.N. officials and journalists - took shelter in an auditorium in the compound, a U.N. officer said.

Indonesian soldiers stationed at a nearby barracks were vastly outnumbered and did not intervene when the melee erupted, witnesses said. Indonesian riot police dispatched to the scene about an hour after the violence began fired volleys of warning shots and dispersed the attackers. Col. Mohammad Muis, Indonesia's military commander in East Timor, said his forces were on full alert. Police in Jakarta said 300 officers from an elite unit would be flown in on Thursday.

The violence came as the United Nations began counting ballots in a referendum expected to favor the territory's independence from Indonesia, which invaded in 1975, triggering years of guerrilla warfare and human rights abuses in the former Portuguese colony. One U.N. worker was killed Monday, and two are feared dead - victims of attacks just after the balloting.

The outbreak raised fears that the territory could slide back into lawlessness as pro-Indonesia militias, sensing defeat, try frantically to take control of whatever they can. About 98.6 percent of registered voters turned out for the vote, U.N. officials said. Results are expected by Sept. 7.

The militias have accused the United Nations of rigging the vote to encourage independence.

Jose Ramos-Horta, an East Timorese pro-independence leader and Nobel peace laureate, blamed today's violence on the powerful Indonesian military, which he said is reluctant to give up the territory. ``There's obviously a policy by the military hierarchy to continue provoking violence,'' Ramos-Horta told Portuguese state radio RDP from Sydney, Australia. ``The militias on their own couldn't get the means to challenge the entire population and the entire international community.'' The Indonesian government has resisted calls for an armed U.N. peacekeeping force in East Timor.

New Zealand Foreign Affairs Minister Don McKinnon said that if violence escalated, an intervention force likely including New Zealand, Australia, the United States and Japan could enter the territory. Australia swiftly denied it would join a non-U.N. peacekeeping force in East Timor.

Ballots were being tallied at a counting center in western Dili. Militiamen reportedly had blocked off roads to the east and west of the center, but riot police were stationed at the center, and the roadblocks did not appear to pose an immediate danger.

The melee began when pro- and anti-independence activists confronted each other outside the compound, witnesses said. Anti-independence activists had marched there following the funeral of a militant killed in a brawl with pro-independence supporters. Many of the militants carried knives and machetes and wore black uniforms and red-and-white headbands, Indonesia's national colors.

``Our observers say there was a clash between the Aitarak militia and (separatist) resistance forces very close to the (U.N.) building. It doesn't appear to have been an attack on (the headquarters),'' Ambassador Fernando Neves, Portugal's chief negotiator on East Timor, said on Portuguese radio TSF after speaking with Portuguese observers on the scene.

The independence supporter who was killed, initially was caught between two groups of militiamen. He ran as they closed in on him, but they hit him and tripped him. As he fell, one militiaman shot him and then about six machete-wielding gang members hacked him to death. A taxi carrying journalists to the scene was fired on and militiamen smashed its rear window. Dark smoke billowed from the raging fires.

Several journalists said they were assaulted at the compound. BBC reporter Jonathan Head said he was attacked by a man who threw a large rock at him and pulled a knife before other militia members restrained him. In other scattered violence, police said a teen-ager was slain in Dili today. Gunshots rang out Tuesday night in one town, and residents accused militias of killing a family of eight in the town of Hera. Police were checking the report.