Lord Robertson, the Nato Secretary General-designate, told the BBC it was inappropriate to "draw a direct connection between British arms sales, even in the past, with what is going on, on the ground in Dili and the other towns in East Timor".

Lord Robertson interviewed on the BBC's Today programme

The defence secretary was speaking as protesters against Indonesian involvement in the East Timor massacres are preparing to demonstrate outside the UK's biggest arms exhibition, which opens in Surrey on Tuesday.

Lord Robertson remarks came as he responded to questions about whether the British soldiers bound for Australia where they will link up with other elements of the UN peacekeeping force for East Timor would be likely to face fire from arms sold to Indonesia by British companies.

Lord Robertson: British forces are on the way to the region

He added that the violence was being committed mainly by militias with small arms and machetes.

The defence secretary said there had been a "dramatic reduction" in the amount of arms being sold to the Indonesian government since Labour came to power.

He also said the UK did not sell arms that it thought would be used for internal repression and added that the armaments produced by the UK were not "openly on sale to anyone who wants it".

Turning to the role of the UN force for East Timor, Lord Robertson said it was more likely to be peacekeeping rather than peacemaking.

Arms protest

Campaigners against the arms trade are expected to be joined outside the exhibition hall in Chertsey by East Timorese exiles protesting at links between the UK arms industry and the Indonesian military.

Anti-arms trade campaigners say the massacres and abuses in East Timor show what happens when you sell weapons to countries with poor human rights records.

The arms fair, Defence Systems and Equipment International, includes displays from more than 700 defence firms from the UK and abroad.

The Indonesian Government declined an invitation to attend the arms fair last week and the UK recently suspended weapons sales to Indonesia.

The move followed intense pressure on the UK Government to withdraw its invitation to the Indonesians because of the repression by militias in East Timor.

'Ethics breached'

Defence Procurement Minister Lady Symons has previously insisted Indonesia should be allowed to attend the arms fair despite the violence in East Timor to look at "self-defence" equipment on sale.

Human rights organisations have consistently attacked the UK's sale of arms to Indonesia, claiming it breaches Labour's pledge to pursue an ethical foreign policy.