UN reacts to Timor killings

Pro-Jakarta militias are blamed for hundreds of deaths

The UN has decided to pull out of the West Timor border town of Atambua after pro-Indonesia militiamen went on the rampage, killing at least three.

Three other UN workers are reported missing.

Hundreds of machete-wielding militiamen rioted in the border town of Atambua, burning down the UN refugee agency's office and other buildings. They also set UN vehicles on fire.

Four helicopters from the UN peacekeeping force in East Timor rushed to Atambua and airlifted all the remaining foreign aid workers there to East Timor.

Bodies were recovered from the UN office in Atambua, the chief representative of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Indonesia, Rene Van Rooyen, told the BBC.

There have been conflicting reports over the exact number of casualties. Some reports say another two people remain missing.

UN officials in Geneva have confirmed that at least three of the staff members are dead.

This tragedy underlines the dangers faced by unarmed humanitarian workers serving the UN

Kofi Annan

Witnesses said militiamen beat the foreign UN workers to death and burned their bodies, one of them after being dragged out into the street.

The violence coincided with the opening of the UN Millennium Summit in New York, where world leaders are discussing the UN's peacekeeping operations.

UN targets

UN Secretary General Kofi Annan departed from his prepared inaugural statement to inform the 150 kings and presidents of developments and ask for a minute's silence in tribute.

The rampage started during a protest at the killing of a militia member on Tuesday.

We have begun to realise that the Indonesian Government is unable to guarantee our safety

UNHCR spokesman Jake Morland

Gangs of armed men were reported to have been searching houses and hotels in Atambua to hunt down other international aid workers.

UN staff have often been targeted by the militias, who blame the international community for the loss of neighbouring East Timor. It voted overwhelmingly for independence from Indonesia in a referendum a year ago.

Atambua is one of the main refugee centres for East Timorese who fled the violence which erupted after the vote.

Atambua's camps house thousands of refugees from East Timor

More than 600 people died and more than 200,000 fled into West Timor when pro-Jakarta militias rampaged through East Timor, with the alleged connivance of Indonesian officers.

The militia gangs, originally from East Timor, are now based in refugee camps, which are still home to more than 100,000 people.

Last month, the UNHCR suspended its entire aid programme in West Timor after two of its staff were badly beaten and one man was almost killed by militia members in the refugee camps.

Aid suspended

The UNHCR resumed operations after receiving guarantees of protection from the Indonesian government.

Last week militiamen attacked civilians and UN peacekeepers in West Timor while East Timor was celebrating the first anniversary of the referendum.

A UNHCR spokesman in Kupang, the capital of West Timor, said: "We have begun to realise that the Indonesian Government is unable to guarantee our safety.

"I believe that they [the militiamen] are acting alone, unconnected with the Indonesian Government," the spokesman, Jake Morland, told the BBC.

The International Organisation for Migration (IOM) says preparations are under way to evacuate some 80 aid workers - international and local staff - from Kupang.

Indonesia has been under strong international pressure to put on trial those responsible for the East Timor violence or face the threat of an international tribunal.