East Timor's leaders have signalled that they will not object if Indonesia's president pardons the former military chief blamed for atrocities committed in the territory.

President Abdurrahman Wahid has ordered General Wiranto to quit his post as Security Minister after a government report implicated him in last year's brutality in East Timor.

But Mr Wahid has also said he will pardon Mr Wiranto if he is found guilty of human rights abuses in the former Indonesian territory.

Timorese leader Jose Ramos-Horta said a presidential pardon was ''always the prerogative of a head of the state".

"We would not necessarily be in disagreement with a presidential pardon,'' he added.

Independence leader Xanana Gusmao said: "We want to stress again if we ask for justice, we don't ask for revenge."

Refugee crisis

They were speaking as aid workers reported that conditions for tens of thousands of East Timorese refugees still living in camps in Indonesian West Timor were getting worse.

They said the delivery of basic food supplies was being disrupted by prolonged heavy rain and by increased activity from pro-Indonesian militias, which have been trying to prevent refugees from returning to East Timor.

Up to 150,000 East Timorese have been living in West Timor for five months, since fleeing the violence which broke out in East Timor after the vote for independence.

Prosecution

In Jakarta, Mr Wiranto again brushed aside demands for his resignation at a cabinet meeting - the second he has attended since he was ordered to stand down.

Mr Wiranto insisted he would wait for Mr Wahid's return from a foreign tour at the weekend.

Indonesia's human rights commission has recommended that Mr Wiranto and five other senior generals be prosecuted for the violence that followed East Timor's referendum on independence last August, in which at least 250 people died.

An inquiry by a United Nations-appointed commission has also blamed Indonesia's top military command for ordering attacks in East Timor.

But Mr Wiranto has said he will not accept personal or legal responsibility for any crimes committed by his troops.

He says he is proud of his record, and will not resign his cabinet post because that might be interpreted as an admission of guilt.

Mr Wiranto's refusal to step down has sparked fears of a coup while President Wahid is away.

But a former Indonesian armed forces chief General Try Sutrisno said on Wednesday that there were no plans for a takeover.

However, he warned that the military would react strongly if public criticism did not stop.

"If these groundless reports do not cease, we will react with equal force, but one thing you can be sure of, that reaction will not be in the form of a coup," he added.