TIMOR TODAY 06/10/99

For full text and pictures see… http://www.easttimor.com/

PHOTOS

a) East Timorese Falintil soldiers line up in the mountains outside Manatutu. (AP Photo/Jonathan Head)

b) A young boy lines up between fellow hungry East Timorese Tuesday for the first mass food distribution since foreign peacekeepers arrived in the wrecked capital of Dili. (AP Photo/Maya Vidon, Pool)

NEWS

1) Ramos-Horta backs Falantil’s refusal to disarm 06/10/99 (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) If you disarm Falantil now INTERFET will lose completely the trust of the people of East Timor. What we propose is that it engages in dialogue with Xanana Gusmao, the resistance leader, accelerate the deployment of INTERFET, accelerate the creation of the UN transition authority, create a new East Timorese security force, then, yes, we can talk about disarmament.

2) Falintil resistance fighters to keep their arms 06/10/99 (AFP) DILI, East Timor - Falintil resistance fighters will be allowed to retain their weapons in their camps pending further disarmament negotiations, despite a UN mandate to disarm all groups, an Interfet spokesman said Tuesday.

3) Horta Lambastes Keating as "Suharto Accomplice" 06/10/99 (AFP) SYDNEY - East Timorese resistance leader Jose Ramos Horta launched a bitter attack on former Australian prime minister Paul Keating on Tuesday, accusing him of betraying the people of East Timor.

4) Australians detect night infiltrators probing border defences. 06/10/99 (Sydney Morning Herald) Australian troops manning the border between East Timor and West Timor have targeted suspected Indonesian special forces teams surveying their position.

5) INTERFET Troops hunt Live or Die militia 06/10/99 (Sydney Morning Herald) Australian troops moved into East Timor’s southern region yesterday, apparently on a mission to disarm two of the last remaining militia strongholds.

6) Militias prepare to reenter East Timor, vow to fight Interfet 06/10/99 (AFP) HAEKESAK, Indonesia - Hundreds of armed pro-Indonesia militias gathered in this small border village in West Timor Tuesday, preparing to return to their home bases in neighbouring East Timor and vowing to fight the international forces there.

7) UN accuses Indon army in Dili of blocking radio appeal to refugees 06/10/99 (AFP) DILI, East Timor - UN officials on Tuesday accused the Indonesian army of blocking access to a power plant needed to transmit radio broadcasts to refugees still sheltering in the hills of East Timor.

8) Thousands line up for food in burned out capital 06/10/99 (Associated Press) DILI, East Timor - Thousands of destitute East Timorese lined up patiently under the burning sun on Tuesday for the largest food handout since foreign peacekeepers arrived in the wrecked capital 15 days ago.

9) Alatas ‘told Downer groups were being armed', long before poll 06/10/99 (Sydney Morning Herald) The Indonesian Foreign Minister told his Australian counterpart, Mr Downer, as early as February that Indonesia was arming pro-integration groups.

10) Indonesian foreign minister calls for cooling of Australia-Indonesia row 06/10/99 (AFP) JAKARTA - Indonesian Foreign Minister Ali Alatas on Tuesday called for a cooling of Jakarta’s heated row with Australia over East Timor and said there were no plans at present to cut ties with Canberra.

11) UNHCR expresses concern about Indonesian registration of Timor refugees 06/10/99 (AFP) UNHCR spokesman Kris Janowski said people were "too scared" to openly answer questions asked during the registration, which began on Monday, and that this kind of data would be "worthless". "We don’t think that this kind of registration will provide anybody with a clear answer on what the people want to do," Janowski said.

12) UN proposes transitional authority for East Timor. 06/10/99 (UN) Secretary- General Kofi Annan today proposed a United Nations transitional authority for East Timor that would oversee all aspects of civilian life and include some 10,000 peacekeepers and police.

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Alastair Thompson

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Alastair Thompson is the co-founder of Scoop. He is of Scottish and Irish extraction and from Wellington, New Zealand. Alastair has 24 years experience in the media, at the Dominion, National Business Review, North & South magazine, Straight Furrow newspaper and online since 1997. He is the winner of several journalism awards for business and investigative work.

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