3 U.N. Workers Dead in West Timor Rampage

J A K A R T A, Indonesia, Sept. 6 -- Thousands of armed militiamen and their supporters rampaged through the office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees in West Timor today, killing at least three workers and burning their bodies.

The brutal attack brought new pressure against Indonesia’s president as he gathered with world leaders at the United Nations. (See related story)

Four U.N. helicopters swooped down in the border town of Suai in Atambua, West Timor and safely evacuated 54 people to East Timor, but world leaders quickly and harshly castigated Indonesia for not doing more to protect aid workers.

Suai is where Trevor Rees-Jones, the only survivor of the car crash that killed Princess Diana, has just taken up the post of deputy head of security. Rees-Jones, an ex-paratrooper, was the princess’ bodyguard.

Rees-Jones’ role in the mission, if any, was not known.

Standing By?

The Indonesian government and military were accused of doing nothing to stop today’s bloodshed just across the border, where thousands of armed pro-Indonesian militia gang members and their supporters stormed the U.N. office.

Witnesses said at least three foreign U.N. workers were beaten to death by militiamen, who then burned their bodies in the street.

A military intelligence officer said the “partly burnt” bodies of the U.N. workers from Croatia, Ethiopia and Puerto Rico had been taken to the Atambua public hospital.

The building was also set on fire by the mob angered by the unsolved death a day earlier of a prominent militia leader who was accused of committing atrocities in East Timor last year.

Frequent Attacks

Aid and other agencies in West Timor had only just resumed their activities after pulling out because of the frequent attacks on the U.N. staff there. Their job is to repatriate the thousands of East Timorese who were taken hostages and driven into West Timor during last year’s murderous militia raids, which followed an East Timor’s independence vote.