Troops Going To Timor Enclave

International peacekeepers said Monday they plan to move into the last unsecured part of East Timor -- a small, isolated enclave where human rights abuses have been reported.

Elsewhere, officials in Indonesia predicted that the country's highest legislative body will formally accept East Timor's independence referendum when it votes this week.

In East Timor, peacekeepers were responding to concerns about the enclave, called Oecussi. Peacekeeping forces will be moving in to provide security there, said Col. Mark Kelly, chief of staff of the Australian-led multinational force.

Â"We've always considered that the Oecussi enclave was a clear part of our mandate and was included in the overall territory of East Timor,Â" Kelly said.

But he did not say how soon the move would come. He implied that it might not happen until the peacekeeping force -- now 7,000 strong

-- reaches its full complement of about 8,000 troops.

On Sunday, a top commander of East Timor's pro-independence Falintil rebels said Indonesian troops and their militia allies have killed 50 people and raped many women in the enclave. In his statement, Taur Matan Ruak urged the peacekeeping mission, called Interfet, to move into the region quickly.

Â"Our people are being wiped out, they are surrounded, they cannot escape. There is no excuse for Interfet's inaction, and if they delay further, it will be too late,Â" Ruak said.

The peacekeeping force moved into East Timor on Sept. 20 after militia gangs backed by the Indonesian army ran amok, angry that East Timor's 850,000 people overwhelmingly voted for independence from Indonesia in a U.N.-sponsored referendum on Aug. 30.

Oecussi, a small enclave on the northern coast of neighboring Indonesian-held West Timor, is connected to the rest of East Timor only by a 50-mile stretch of road through West Timor. Its 50,000 people have largely stayed out of the guerrilla war between Indonesia and the Falintil insurgents, who have been waging a guerrilla war since Indonesia invaded the former Portuguese colony in 1975.

In Indonesia, meanwhile, officials said they expect the leading legislative body to officially let East Timor break away, endorsing the territory's independence referendum.

Members of Indonesia's 700-member People's Consultative Assembly have been drafting a decree on the question that is expected to be brought to a vote on Tuesday.

Â"Most of the factions have expressed support to let East Timor go,Â" said Erna Witoelar, vice chairwoman of the group charged with writing the decree. Sabam Sirait, who chaired the commission, also said he was optimistic that the assembly will let East Timor go.

Eventually, the existing plan calls for Indonesia to formally transfer control of East Timor to the United Nations. After the transfer, a transitional authority created by the United Nations is supposed to steer East Timor to independence.

By Slobodan Lekic
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