US urges Timor militia crackdown

A peacekeeper was killed last week near the West Timor border

The United States has condemned Indonesia for its "lamentable and inexcusable" failure to disarm militia operating from West Timor.

US Ambassador to Indonesia and East Timor Robert Gelbard also warned Jakarta it could face cuts in international aid unless it cracks down on the gangs.

International troops were deployed in East Timor last September

He was speaking a week after a New Zealand peacekeeper was shot dead near the East-West Timor border, in an attack blamed on the militia.

Mr Gelbard told the BBC that disarming and disbanding the militia, who are opposed to independence for East Timor, had "dropped off the agenda" of the Indonesian Government.

He also accused what he called recalcitrant elements of the Indonesian military of supporting the paramilitary gangs.

Killing

East Timor erupted in violence last September when pro-Jakarta militia went on the rampage after the territory voted for independence from Indonesia.

When international peacekeepers were sent in, the militiamen and their supporters fled into Indonesian West Timor - where they are based in refugee camps.

We have seen increasingly well planned, well organised attacks with sophisticated automatic weapons

Ambassador Robert Gelbard

But they have since been blamed for violence in the camps and attacks near the border.

Last week a New Zealand peacekeeper Leonard Manning, was shot dead while patrolling near the border.

It is believed he was killed by gunmen who had crossed over from a West Timor refugee camp.

His ears were cut off after he was shot. United Nations officials have privately suggested this was done to enable the killer to collect a bounty.

The militiamen have also been blamed for an attack on Australian troops in June.

Weapons

Mr Gelbard said Jakarta must disband the militia and honour its promise to respect East Timor's territorial integrity.

"What is particularly worrisome is that ... we have seen increasingly well planned, well organised attacks with sophisticated automatic weapons," he told Australia's Sydney Morning Herald.

"What that demonstrates ... is that the Indonesian Government is still not prepared to take control of the situation."

Mr Gelbard also said two army battalions were responsible for much of the insecurity along the border and should be transferred out of the area.

"There are still clearly elements of the TNI [Indonesian military] that are continuing to support the militias," he added.