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16 weapons netted in W Timor crackdown |
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September 30, 2000
KUPANG, (AP) - Two days into a massive security crackdown against militia groups in West Timor, police said on Friday that they had netted only 16 weapons, all of which were voluntarily surrendered. Indonesia is under intense international pressure to disband the gangs after they murdered three U.N. aid workers in the West Timor border town of Atambua on Sept. 6. The government promised the world body that security forces would forcibly disarm the militias after a deadline for them to surrender their weapons expired. U.N. officials have accused elements of the security forces of covertly training and arming the militias and directing their activities. Police said about 1,000 armed officers and soldiers were deployed to nine militia strongholds on Thursday across West Timor to clamp down on the gangs. Militiamen in the regional capital of Kupang voluntarily handed over three grenade launchers, one pistol, an automatic rifle, three homemade shotguns and 130 rounds of various ammunition. In Atambua, gang members surrendered two more automatic rifles after an initial six were handed in on Thursday, said police Lt. Col. Supriyanto. In three militia-controlled refugee camps around Kupang, hundreds of armed police officers and soldiers searched for weapons through makeshift huts and dilapidated tents. "We found nothing in the refugee camps," said officer Sgt. Budi, who like many Indonesians only uses one name. Police said there had been no confrontations with the paramilitaries. Last weekend, the militias surrendered 34 automatic rifles, nine grenade launchers and about 1,000 homemade weapons, but the arms handover came to a halt after a clash on Sunday between security forces and the gangs. Many militiamen have fled the region's towns for militia strongholds, vowing to defy the government's order for them to give up their guns. The militias are the same gangs that laid waste to much of East Timor after its people overwhelmingly voted for independence in a U.N.-sponsored ballot last year. The paramilitaries are now intent on destabilizing U.N.-administered East Timor's transition to self-rule and preventing 120,000 East Timorese refugees still languishing in camps in West Timor from returning home. The world body says the gangs use the camps as safe havens and bases for border incursions. Two peacekeepers and several militiamen have died in recent clashes. |