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ASIA
APRIL 26, 1999 VOL. 153 NO. 16
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The next few weeks will be a crucial test of Jakarta's authority in the province, and of the will and ability of local military commanders to rein in the militias. East Timor's Governor Abilio Soares worries that the military has become afraid of the militias. "Anarchy is rising everywhere," he says, citing attacks like the April 6 massacre by Besi Merah Putih of as many as 60 villagers in a church near Dili. Each side accuses the other of instigating the violence. "There won't be a ceasefire unless there is an end to putting the blame on each other," says Clementino dos Reis Amaral, secretary-general of the National Commission on Human Rights.
As the finger-pointing continues, violence is driving many East Timorese to desperation. Piet Tallo, governor of neighboring West Timor province claims that 26,000 people have fled their homes and farms in the western regions for mountain and jungle hideouts. The villages surrounding the rich coffee-growing center of Ermera, the hub of East Timor's economy, are deserted.
Travelers returning from the mountainous border-crossing into West Timor say the frontier is being periodically closed by Indonesian authorities, with a lengthening line of hungry refugees waiting to enter. "We have at least 18,000 people up in the mountains who are starving to death, who cannot get food or proper water or sanitation," says Christina Curruscaloa, who runs a charity foundation in Dili.
Most refugees have fled the Liquica area, site of the April 6 church massacre, where red-and-white Indonesian flags have suddenly sprouted on makeshift flagpoles--and goats--in hamlets previously thought to be pro-independence strongholds. But for East Timorese like the frightened goatherd and his family, such an act is not about politics, it is about life and death.
With reporting by Jason Tedjasukmana/Jakarta
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