The Indonesian armed forces chief, Gen Wiranto, arrived in Dili yesterday following the deaths of at least 18 people at the hands of pro-Indonesian militias supported by the military. He was met at the airport by Bishop Carlos Belo, and was expected to meet militia leaders.
Diplomatic pressure is mounting on the Indonesian leadership to end the terror and Gen Wiranto's arrival may signal a new phase in the conflict.
The Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Andrews, met Gen Wiranto on Monday and urged him to go to Dili to take charge of the situation and to order his local commander to protect the people. Mr Andrews witnessed at first hand the grief-stricken father of Manuel Carrascalao (17) appealing for help from Bishop Belo while his son was being killed. Family sources said the boy was buried yesterday.
Details of how the youth died - just two weeks before he was due to start university in Portugal - are beginning to emerge. In Melbourne, his aunt, Ms Maria Gabriela Carrascalao, described how 30 minutes before he was slaughtered she rang him to check about reports of mob violence. He told her that the militia leader, Mr Eurico Guterres, had arrived to look for his father, who had sought refuge at Bishop Belo's house.
"My nephew told me this mob came in pushed him to the wall and wanted to know where his father was. He said his dad wasn't there and the leader turned to him and said: `You all deserve to die, you are traitors'," she said.
His aunt told a protest meeting in Melbourne that he refused to leave the house, saying: "I have some children here and some refugees, I can't leave them. I'm all right, aunty, don't worry."
Manuel was the first of an estimated dozen people in the house who were killed. He was shot in the leg and cut with a machete, according to a family friend.
Meanwhile, doctors at the Montael Catholic clinic in Dili reported that all their patients vanished after the American physician in attendance, Dr Dan Murphy, received a telephone call from the military warning him they were coming for his patients.
Dr Murphy is a general practitioner and not trained in surgery. He said that injured patients died in recent days because they did not have proper equipment.
Portugal's special envoy to Indonesia, Ms Ana Gomes, said yesterday in Jakarta that political transition in East Timor was unstoppable and urged pro-Jakarta militias to end their violence.