A United Nations military operation was mounted from East Timor into Indonesian-controlled West Timor last night to rescue dozens of UN and other aid officials from rampaging pro-Indonesia militiamen, who earlier killed at least three UN officials.
The killings were condemned last night by the UN Secretary-General, Mr Kofi Annan, and the US President, Mr Clinton, in their opening remarks to world leaders at the UN Millennium Summit, among them the Indonesian president, Mr Abdurrahman Wahid.
Mr Annan called for a minute's silence, saying the tragedy underlined the dangers faced by unarmed UN humanitarian workers in conflict or post-conflict situations. He said he had taken up the matter with Indonesia "at the highest level". Three Hue helicopters from the New Zealand battalion of the UN peacekeeping forces in East Timor airlifted 41 people from West Timor and brought them to the East Timor capital, Dili, late yesterday evening, a UN official said.
The killing frenzy followed the funeral of a militia leader, Mr Olivio Mendonca Marouk, whose body was found mutilated in a West Timor village on Monday.
Twenty truckloads of militiamen attacked the office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Atambua, and burned a UN vehicle.
Atambua is a major centre for 120,000 East Timorese refugees living in camps in West Timor under the control of pro-Jakarta militiamen, who have been harassing UN staff to prevent refugees going back home.
Three officials, from the US, Ethiopia and Croatia, were hacked to death, dragged into the street and set alight, according to eye-witnesses. They were later named as Mr Carlos Casaeres, Mr Samson Aregaheyen and Mr Peril Simundze.
"The militias are on the way and I am sure they will do their best to demolish this office," Mr Casaeres wrote in an e-mail to a friend before his death. Casaeres had been scheduled to be rotated out of Atambua today for a three-week break.
"These guys kill without thinking and can kill a human as easily (and painlessly) as I kill mosquitoes in my room," he wrote.
UN officials said a Brazilian woman relief worker was seriously injured by axe-wielding attackers. Indonesian police said a fourth UN staff member was killed, but this was later denied.
"The mob stabbed them to death inside the headquarters and dragged their bodies to the road and set them on fire," said an Indonesian intelligence officer. "We tried to stop them but they were totally out of control. It was crazy."
After frantic negotiations between the UN in East Timor and the Indonesian Army (TNI), UN helicopters were permitted to cross into Indonesian air space and rescue other UN and aid staff who had fled to a military compound. They were flown to the East Timor town of Balibo, 10 km from Atambua, and then airlifted in two helicopters to Dili, a 30-minute flight. The evacuees included 13 UNHCR officials, and individuals from the Red Cross, UNICEF and NGOs, as well as some Indonesian workers.
A UN official in Dili said that no Irish aid officials were among the casualties or evacuees.
The UN is to evacuate all its personnel from West Timor, and another airlift is expected today.
Despite international pressure on Jakarta to curb the violent activities of the militias, TNI soldiers allow them to man roadblocks and did little to prevent yesterday's assault.
The militias were organised by the TNI in East Timor in 1999 to intimidate East Timorese out of voting for independence in last August's referendum.