Speaker
1: |
They
always knew they would draw back the curtain on a tragedy, but now, as
[inaudible] forces the UN and others bring East Timor back into worldview,
they're seeing destruction on a scale beyond anything they imagined. Most of
the territory's infrastructure appears to have been levelled in an operation
planned, led, and at least partly carried out by TNI, Indonesia's military. |
David: |
The
city was a very, very carefully planned and brutally executed strategy. I've
never seen anything like it. |
Speaker
1: |
The
terror campaign of recent weeks forced the UN's East Timor spokesman, like
virtually all foreign nationals, to flee Dili. Now, David [Windhurst] is back
to a city utterly wrecked. |
David: |
Totally
destroyed, almost totally destroyed. There are really very few buildings that
are still standing in one piece. It appears to be an act of gross revenge or
anger because the East [Timorese] people dared to vote in a popular
consultation that the international community provided for and they voted for
their freedom. They voted for independence. |
Sonjai: |
Yeah.
I would say some of the places were burned between 50% to 80% of the houses,
the buildings, the infrastructure. It's completely destroyed. I think- |
Speaker
1: |
Aid
worker [Sonjai] [inaudible] joined one of three key UN helicopter assessment
flights over East Timor to see whether the destruction of Dili had been
repeated elsewhere across the territory. |
Sonjai: |
This
looked far worse because they have razed to ground many of the major towns. What
they have done is they have burned the cities and the towns and now are
systematically burning the villages. It's carried out very strategically,
very systematically. |
Speaker
1: |
Here,
they're piecing together the helicopter assessments and other eye-witness
reports for a picture of what's left of East Timor's buildings. What they're
seeing horrifies them. |
David: |
We've
flown to the southwest over Maliana and Same and that area. We've seen total
destruction on the ground. We've flown over the eastern part of East Timor to
places like Lospalos and [Delur] and [Luri]. 75% destruction across the
board. No people around. |
Speaker
4: |
[inaudible]. |
Speaker
1: |
Almost
24 years after they invaded, Indonesia's military is leaving East Timor from
20000 troops down to a token force of 1500. As they go, pockets of Dili are
still burning. The Australian and other foreign troops here can do little
about it. Yesterday, they watched as this storage area and adjoining bank
burned in the late afternoon. |
David: |
That's
exactly what it appears to be: a deliberately planned scorched earth policy
to destroy all the infrastructure in East Timor. |
Speaker
1: |
With
Indonesia's military now largely gone and its facilities gone as well, some
argue the threat to East Timor has now receded. Others see it differently,
saying that the militias uncontrolled are more dangerous than ever. |
Bob
Lowry: |
It
increases the risk of conflict with the militia because, to some degree, the
Indonesian army were controlling them because it was in their interest to do
so. On the other hand, once the Indonesian army is out of the province, it
makes it quite clear as to who is friend and who is foe. It will make it a
great deal easier for the troops on the ground, the United Nations troops to
actually get control of the situation. |
Speaker
1: |
Bob
Lowry says Indonesia's military may be leaving East Timor but will still have
an influence from West Timor. |
Bob
Lowry: |
Their
more likely course is that they will arm and train and pay East Timorese to cross
the border and make trouble that way. |
Speaker
1: |
Only
now are the aid convoys beginning to head out to the tens of thousands driven
from their homes. We joined this one into the hills one and a half hours
south of Dili to Remexio, a village where the population has tripled as East
Timorese flee to escape the terror elsewhere. They saw this as among the
safest of places to hide. Yet even here, the main street is lined with
buildings burnt to the ground. |
Speaker
6: |
The
military moved from here. They are military. The military [inaudible] people
of East Timor is burned down. |
Speaker
1: |
Indonesia's
military burned the houses? |
Speaker
6: |
Yes. |
Speaker
1: |
Why
did they do that? |
Speaker
6: |
They
are very, very angry with the people in East Timor because they are choosing
for independence. |
Speaker
1: |
Australian
soldiers found and treated this man. He says he tried to stop the Indonesian
military and militiamen burning his home. They shot him. Others who've
escaped injury in a wave of violence now wait to see whether their loved ones
were as lucky. |
Speaker
7: |
All
my sisters stay in Dili, but I do not know their [inaudible]. |
Speaker
1: |
Do
you think they are alive? |
Speaker
7: |
I
do not know they are alive or die. I not know. |
Speaker
1: |
The
Indonesian military, long despised by he dogged independent supporters and
fighters of East Timor, is all but gone. Increasingly though, it seems
purging them has come at an awful cost, one East Timor is no position to pay. |
Sonjai: |
It
is poorer than some of the countries in Sub-Saharan Africa to start with. It
will take probably five years of just initial work to probably help these
people to get back on their feet, to get them new homes, and it'll take
probably another 10 years to get the whole infrastructure back again to where
it was. |