EAST TIMOR: AUSTRALIAN PEACEKEEPERS BEGIN DISARMING INDONESIAN MILITIA.

Record ID: 350063

  • Title: EAST TIMOR: AUSTRALIAN PEACEKEEPERS BEGIN DISARMING INDONESIAN MILITIA.
  • Date: 20th September 1999
  • Summary: DILI, EAST TIMOR (SEPTEMBER 20, 1999) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 1. VARIOUS: VARIOUS OF AUSTRALIAN SOLDIERS ARRIVING, BOARDING TRUCK AND THEN DEPLOYED IN THE STREETS OF DILI (13 SHOTS) 1.14 2. TRACK/GV: BURNT OUT BUILDINGS/ SOLDIERS MOVE INTO DIL STREETS (5 SHOTS) 1.44 2. GV/MV: MILITIA MEN BEING DISARMED BY MULTINATIONAL FORCES (10 SHOTS) 2.54
  • Embargoed: 5th October 1999 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: DILI, EAST TIMOR
  • Country: Indonesia
  • Reuters ID: LVA56O79D1FRN9JPHOAMWYTI5EBJ
  • Story Text: Australian soldiers in the multinational peacekeeping
    force have moved into the streets of Dili and begun disarming
    pro-Jakarta militia groups.

    As troops fanned out throughout Dili, militiamen wearing
    Aitarak t-shirts were stopped and weapons seized.

    Heavily armed Australian troops fanned out through the
    ruined capital of East Timor on Monday (September 20), seizing
    weapons from militiamen blamed for the campaign of violence
    that's claimed thousands of lives.

    The troops are among the first U.N.contingents to
    arrive in Dili to bring an end to weeks of bloodshed.

    On the streets, troops encountered armed militia men
    wearing black Aitarak t-shirts onboard motorbikes.

    The militia men were flagged down and eventually
    disarmed by the Australian soldiers.

    The soldiers of the multinational force were also
    welcomed by hundreds of homeless East Timorese whose houses
    were plundered and burnt by pro-Jakarta militia men.

    These East Timorese have been living in the streets of
    Dili ever since rampaging pro-Jakarta militias laid the
    capital to waste.

    By the end of the day, there should be about 2,000
    international troops on the ground, some of them are expected
    to arrive by sea.

    The arrival of the force effectively marks the end of
    Indonesia's often brutal 23-year rule in the former Portuguese
    colony, where Jakarta's authority has never been recognised.

    The United Nations said it would begin rebuilding its
    mission in the ravaged East Timor capital Dili on Monday after
    the quick and so far peaceful deployment of the multinational
    force.


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