By Max Lane
"Fear still stalks Dili", Australian activist JON LAND told Green Left Weekly by phone from Dili on April 16. "There are more and more reports of an impending attack on independence activists here by militias backed by the military. Leaflets are being distributed threatening independence supporters."
Land, an activist in Sydney with Action in Solidarity with Indonesia and East Timor, is in East Timor to meet with progressive East Timorese political groups. "Many people have confirmed the massacre of 40 people in Liquica. There are consistent reports now of killings in other towns as well. All main roads out of Dili have roadblocks organised by the Jakarta-sponsored terror gangs", he said.
Commenting on the terror gangs' armed rally in Dili on April 18, Land said: "Imagine what would happen if the rebel National Council of Timorese Resistance (CNRT) tried to hold an armed rally in Dili! Even under Indonesian law such things are banned. Anybody who thinks that these contras are not orchestrated and protected by the Indonesian authorities are either idiots or apologists for Jakarta.
"Bishop Belo is having a mass on Sunday for the victims of the massacre. The terror gangs have demanded that Belo hold a mass for them as well. Pro-Jakarta gang bosses are talking about a three-stage strategy: killing pro-independence community leaders, occupying the CNRT offices and taking over the university. They wouldn't be thinking on such a scale without Jakarta's backing."
Land said the East Timorese people are attempting to organise to resist: "Many activists have been forced underground, from where they are trying to work out the best way to respond".
Land condemned recent statements by Australian foreign minister Alexander Downer. "To refuse to take a stand on this terror and to use words like 'neither side are saints' is criminally deceitful. One side is an aggressor, an illegal invader of another country, which is systematically killing unarmed people. These forces are not an aberration or rogue elements but are sponsored by the same Indonesian state that Australia maintains close military, political and business ties with."
In a report phoned in to Green Left on April 17, Land said that at 8am that day pro-integration forces held a 1000-strong rally outside the office of the governor, Abilio Soares. With the governor attending, they heard a number of speeches and fired guns into the air. The police and the military watched approvingly. It seemed to be a well stage-managed affair, he said.
Land described how no one, except terror gang patrols, is on the streets of Dili. He said there are reports of houses being set on fire around the city, that the bus terminal and market in the Becora district have been burnt down and that the militia have attacked the home of Manuel Carrascalao where many people displaced by the terror gangs' activities have been living.