| Subject: US-TRAINED
INDONESIANS SAID TO INFILTRATE E TIMOR Associated Press October 7, 1999
US-Trained Indonesians Said To Infiltrate East Timor
DILI, East Timor (AP)--Indonesian commandos are conducting
covert operations inside East Timor aimed at sabotaging the international peacekeeping
effort, foreign military officials say.
The commandos, who received extensive training from the
U.S. military despite a 1992 congressional ban, are actively reconnoitering positions held
by the U.N.-mandated force along the border with Indonesian-held West Timor, Australian
army Capt. Grant King said.
Several groups of soldiers, believed to be part of
Indonesia's elite Kopassus special forces brigade, were observed by peacekeepers
conducting nighttime patrols around the peacekeepers' positions near the town of Balibo
this week.
"They were definitely soldiers, not militia,"
King said.
The Australians held their fire and the patrols eventually
slipped back across the border to West Timor, he said. Australian soldiers on the spot
confirmed that the patrols appeared to have been mounted by Kopassus troops.
Indonesian soldiers are formally allowed to remain in East
Timor until the national parliament ratifies the province's secession later this month.
But the two remaining infantry battalions are restricted to
the capital Dili, where they are barricaded inside government buildings. Their commander
last week gave a "100 percent guarantee" that there were no Kopassus left in the
province.
However, Wednesday's botched militia ambush of a convoy of
peacekeepers in the southwest of East Timor bore the "unmistakable imprint" of a
special forces operation, said a foreign officer who spoke on condition of anonymity on
Thursday. Two militiamen were killed and two Australian peacekeepers were slightly
wounded.
Assault rifles retrieved from the dead militiamen were both
Indonesian army weapons: the Russian-built SKS, which has been phased out of service, and
the Belgian FNC, which is the standard infantry weapon today.
They are not available to civilians and can be obtained
only from the army.
Indonesian military spokesman Maj. Gen. Sudrajat denied any
Kopassus involvement, claiming the assailants only were wearing the elite force's
uniforms.
Kopassus - along with the army's secretive intelligence
bureau - organized, trained and armed the militia gangs last year to act as a
counterweight to the pro-independence Fretilin rebels who have fought Indonesian rule
since the occupation of East Timor in 1975.
Leaked Indonesian army records showed a massive special
forces buildup in East Timor last year, when the first militia gangs were set up.
Kopassus has long been portrayed as a rogue element within
Indonesia's military. It's been accused of engineering civil unrest and violence as the
world's fourth-most populous nation grapples with massive political, social and economic
crises.
Human rights groups claim Kopassus troops conducted a reign
of terror in East Timor during 24 years of Indonesian rule.
Over the years, the unit participated in numerous joint
exercises with the U.S. military, despite a 1992 ban on the training of Indonesia's armed
forces imposed in reaction to its poor human rights record.
Clinton administration officials maintained the program was
not covered by a law that bars Indonesian troops from taking part in a U.S. training
program for foreign soldiers known as IMET. State and Defense Department officials claimed
the prohibition did not affect the joint combined exercises carried out by the U.S.
Pacific Command.
Kopassus soldiers and officers received instruction from
U.S. special operations advisers in skills like psychological warfare and reconnaissance
missions, media reports said.
Last month, the administration suspended further military
cooperation and arms sales to Indonesia, after its armed forces allegedly instigated the
campaign of violence that followed a vote for independence on Aug. 30.
Kopassus is organized into two special forces groups, each
consisting of two battalions. Although military analysts say its capabilities are limited
- particularly when facing a modern, Western force such as the Australian army - the
4,000-strong brigade is the best that Indonesian has.
Indonesian generals have made extensive use of their crack
unit in recent years, particularly in a campaign to stamp out a separatist rebel movement
in Aceh, the country's westernmost province. But its troops are said to have performed
poorly against the rebels and were implicated in several massacres of unarmed civilians.
Human rights organizations also have blamed them for
kidnapping dozens of pro-democracy activists during last year's protests that led to the
ouster of Indonesia's longtime dictator Suharto.
His son-in-law, Lt. Gen. Probowo Subianto, was a former
Kopassus commander. He was dumped as the unit's chief and now lives in self-imposed exile
in Jordan.
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