Indonesia faced the opprobrium of the international community yesterday, but little concrete action that might prompt it to desist from terrorising East Timor.
The US Secretary of State, Mrs Madeleine Albright, called on Indonesia to deal with the pro-Jakarta militias, which have been rampaging around East Timor since the United Nations declared that 78 per cent of people had voted for independence.
"The main point is either the Indonesian government takes care of the violence or lets the international community be of assistance," Mrs Albright said in Hanoi during a visit to Vietnam. She did not spell out the options but added: "We obviously are very concerned about the violence . . . and made clear our displeasure with what is going on."
The Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Andrews, accused the Indonesian authorities of terrorism.
"I am appalled by the massacre of innocent civilians and other acts of terrorism and wanton brutality in East Timor," he said in a statement. "The international community cannot remain passive in the face of such outrages."
Mr Andrews said he had told the Irish ambassador to the UN, Mr Richard Ryan, to tell the Security Council of the "strong views" of the Irish Government.
He also told the Indonesian authorities - "in very strong terms" - of the Government's "outrage" at the developments in East Timor, "which fly in the face of the assurances given to me at the highest level in Jakarta last week".
The Labour Party leader, Mr Ruairi Quinn, said a UN peacekeeping force was needed in East Timor and he urged Mr Andrews to go to New York to press the Security Council to mandate one. Mr Quinn said that all financial aid to Jakarta should be put on hold and Indonesia should be subjected to an arms embargo.
The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mrs Mary Robinson, accused the Indonesian government of allowing the most gruesome abuses of East Timor's fundamental rights.
"We cannot stand idly by and watch the East Timorese massacred, burned out of their houses and removed forcibly from the territory for having exercised their fundamental right to self-determination," she said. "The international community must act now or regret yet another tragedy it could have prevented." Although there were calls from two countries with interests in the conflict - Portugal, as the former colonial power, and Australia, as a current regional power - for UN intervention, there were no moves in that direction yesterday.