October 12, 1999
Dili, East Timor - International peacekeepers blamed anti-independence militants Monday for starting a firefight on the East Timor border that has heightened tensions between the foreign forces and the Indonesian military.
The peacekeepers denied claims by the Indonesian Army that a squad of Australian troops shot and killed an Indonesian policeman and wounded four others on Sunday and that the fighting, near Motaain village, took place on the Indonesian-controlled West Timor side of the border. ''To be fired upon 600 to 800 meters inside East Timor is an act of villainy,'' said Major General Peter Cosgrove, the commander of the peacekeeping force.
Jakarta said that soldiers from the United Nations-mandated International Force for East Timor, or INTERFET, fired first and entered West Timor, killing an Indonesian policeman in the exchange of fire. If Indonesian police were directly involved, it would be the first clash between international troops and Indonesian forces since the deployment of the peacekeepers to East Timor on Sept. 20.
Foreign Minister Ali Alatas said the Indonesian military and the peacekeepers have formed a team to investigate the fighting. ''Both sides have no interest in worsening the situation,'' he said.
At a news conference in Dili, Colonel Mark Kelly, the Australian chief of staff of the international forces, maintained that about 40 Australian soldiers were fired on Sunday by the militia force. They shot back, wounding two militiamen, Colonel Kelly said. He added that there were no deaths. ''The group that was first seen to engage international troops were wearing T-shirts and militia garb,'' Colonel Kelly said. Indonesian soldiers and police were accompanying the militants at the time and ''were probably involved in the incident,'' but did not appear to fire shots themselves, he said. Colonel Kelly said that no Australians were wounded. The fighting occurred in a remote area of hamlets on the border that separates West and East Timor.
In Canberra, Prime Minister John Howard said that Australia is seeking talks with Indonesian officials to prevent further border clashes in East Timor. In Melbourne, the East Timorese independence leader Xanana Gusmao accused the Indonesian forces of provoking the clash ''to see how much the Australian troops are ready to fight.'' Colonel Kelly said that peacekeepers met Sunday with Indonesian military and police commanders in Dili to demand an explanation for the attack, which he said occurred on the East Timor side of the border. During the talks, ''both sides agreed the incident occurred in East Timor,'' Colonel Kelly said.
But that did not seem to be the case in the Indonesian capital, where calls to attack peacekeepers were made. ''Our sovereignty cannot be broken by anyone,'' said Amien Rais, the speaker of the assembly. ''If peacekeepers enter Indonesian territory,'' Mr. Rais said, ''we should attack them.'' Major General Sudrajat, a military spokesman, said the police were only guarding the West Timorese border when the peacekeepers opened fire on them. In Kupang, West Timor's capital, flags were flown at half staff to honor the policeman said to have been killed. During a break in the Parliament, legislators from four parties condemned the peacekeeping forces for Sunday's fight and urged Indonesian forces to attack them when they violate the country's sovereignty.
''The incident makes it very clear that there is no goodwill by the peacekeeping forces toward Indonesia,'' said Slamet Effendi Yusuf, of the ruling Golkar party. ''The Indonesian military has to shoot those that violate Indonesian territory. Once we tolerate them, they will trample on our sovereignty.''
