Indonesians Leave East Timor
Under cover of darkness, the last Indonesian troop ship sailed out of Dili's nearly deserted harbor early Sunday, ending a bloody 24-year military engagement in East Timor.
"They are all leaving tonight," Indonesian marine Capt. Raja, who used only one name, said shortly before the tank-landing ship, the Kri Teluk Banten, slipped clear of the harbor.
The departure of the Indonesian troops closes a chapter of history that has left as many as 200,000 East Timorese dead since the Indonesian invasion of the former Portuguese colony on Dec. 7, 1975. About 5,000 Indonesian troops died.
Indonesia has effectively relinquished its claim to East Timor, which was left ravaged by a wave of violence surrounding its independence referendum on Aug. 30.
Only a small contingent of Australian peacekeepers watched the scene, casting off the heavy ropes mooring the ship.
As the ship left at 12:55 a.m., two East Timorese on a motorcycle drove by, saying: "Thieves leaving in the night."
In an extraordinary farewell gesture, East Timor's rebel leader clasped hands with senior Indonesian military officers Saturday as Indonesian forces spent their final hours in the territory they occupied for 24 years.
Guerrilla chieftain Jose Alexandre "Xanana" Gusmao and officers from the military his followers battled for years met and talked intently in a lounge at the Dili airfield, as the Indonesians were making their final preparations to leave.
 CBS |
| Indonesian soldiers prepare to leave East Timor by boat. |
An Indonesian cargo plane full of troops and equipment flew back to Jakarta, and a troop-transport ship was ready to set to sail from Dili's harbor.
The bearded, graying Gusmao, clad in neatly pressed combat fatigues, said the Indonesian departure marks the end of difficult era for both sides.
"It ends a historical error. A mistake between two countries," the 53-year-old guerrilla commander told reporters. "Now we have to look at the future."
The departure of the Indonesian troops had been considered imminent since a United Nations transition team formally took control of East Timor earlier this week. The U.N. is to oversee the transition to independence for the territory, likely to take two or three years.
Although popular anger against the Indonesian military is high, the peacekeepers, the United Nations team and even the rebel army tried hard to give the departing troops a respectful send-off.
The spree of burning, looting and terror by anti-independence militiamen drove nearly three-quarters of the province's 850,000 people from their homes. About half of tem are still displaced, and aid agencies have arrived in force to help feed and shelter them.
More than a quarter-million East Timorese wound up in refugee camps in neighboring West Timor, an Indonesian province, but hundreds are arriving home daily. The latest refugee ship docked this morning with nearly 1,900 East Timorese aboard, tying up only a few hundred yards from the last Indonesian ship waiting to sail for home.
Also, what is expected to be a twice-daily barge service has begun ferrying about 1,000 refugees a day from camps around Atambua in West Timor. The first of them arrived in Dili late Friday.
The 16-nation multinational peacekeeping force, led by Australia, arrived in East Timor on Sept. 20. Peacekeeping soldiers have now fanned out throughout the territory, though rogue paramilitary units still pose a threat along the tense border.
Written By Laura King