WEST TIMOR: EX MILITIAMEN STAGE PROTEST

(30 Aug 2000) English/Nat
XFA
Thousands of former anti-independence militiamen staged a noisy protest in Kupang in West Timor on Wednesday, rejecting Indonesia's plan to close refugee camps for the pro-Indonesian East Timorese.

Most of the shops were closed as the group, led by ex-militia commander Eurico Guterres, marched down the main streets in the capital of West Timor.

The more than two-thousand protesters then held rallies outside the local parliament building and police headquarters.

Outnumbered police officers just watched on when some of the protesters smashed the parliament, breaking dozens of glasses of doors and windows of the building.

"In principle, we reject the government's plan to close down the refugee camps," said Guterres.

A statement, the group demanded the trial of former President B-J Habibie for allowing the referendum that led to the East Timor independence.

They also called on Indonesia to assign a region for the relocation of the East Timorese refugees.

The Office of the U-N High Commission for Refugees decided on Tuesday to resume its operations in West Timor after a six-day suspension following an attack on three of its workers by the pro-Indonesian militia members.

More than 250-thousand people flooded into West Timor after the August 30 referendum, in which four-fifths of East Timorese voted for independence from Indonesia.
Some 170-thousand refugees have returned to their half-island homeland.

Indonesia annexed the former-Portuguese colony in 1976.

SOUNDBITE: (Indonesian)
"What we are doing today is to commemorate the day as a day of mourning. We mourn because Habibie has separated East Timor from Indonesia. So we want the Indonesian government today to recognise this day as a day of mourning."
SUPER CAPTION: Ex-militia commander Eurico Guterres

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