After a brief handshake with an Australian captain wearing wraparound sunglasses, an officer of the 10th Battalion of the Indonesian army handed over the keys of the seaside villa the Indonesian military had occupied since 1975 and led his last unit of 100 men carrying kit bags out through the gates.
It was a moment laden with historical import for the people of East Timor. After four centuries of colonisation by Portugal and 24 years' occupation by Indonesia, power in the capital effectively passed yesterday into the hands of the international force dedicated to securing East Timor's independence.
The full significance of the event was recognised by some of the pro-independence people who had dared to venture back into town after the end of the reign of terror imposed by pro-Jakarta militiamen following the referendum of August 30th.
Twenty minutes after the soldiers disappeared in the direction of the harbour, where a commandeered cruise liner waited to ship them home, young men took to the street in the gathering dusk to celebrate. Yelling "Viva Timor Leste" and making V-signs, they paraded past the deserted Indonesian military (TNI) villa and the empty wicker chairs outside where guards with automatic weapons used to lounge menacingly. Maj Gen Peter Cosgrove, the Australian Commander of the International Force for East Timor (Interfet), chose yesterday to underline in his own way who was in charge now in Dili. He deployed 1,000 troops around the centre of town in the biggest show of force since Interfet began deploying on Monday.
In scenes reminiscent of the Vietnam war, Black Hawk helicopters clattered low over rooftops, while troops in assault vehicles filled the narrow tree-lined streets and soldiers combed burnt-out buildings for members of the feared Aitarak militia.
The aim of the operation was to state indirectly to the displaced people in the hills that the environment in Dili was safe to return to, said Lieut Col Nick Welsh. His message to the militia was: "You think you control the area, but in reality it is in our control."
In one incident, Australian soldiers roughly forced three men to lie face down in the dirt, where an angry East Timorese man in a small crowd which gathered managed to hit one on the head with a stick, shouting accusingly: "Milisi" (Militia).
Interfet intelligence in these early days seems to be based on local people pointing out milisi. However, the mainly Australian international force announced yesterday that it had captured a very senior Aitarak militiaman, Caitano Da Silva, who is being held for possible crimes against humanity.
The Interfet troops sealed off several blocks of the ruined city for hours with instructions not to let anyone through. This led to a brief and bizarre toe-to-toe confrontation between the Indonesian commander in East Timor, Gen Kiki Syahnakri, and a junior Australian officer, who took his orders literally to stop all traffic and prevented a long column of Indonesian troops from passing through on their way to the port.
A total of 4,500 TNI soldiers sailed out of Dili at 10.30 yesterday evening on the brightly lit ship - travelling in style compared to the Indonesian troops who first arrived in East Timor on landing craft on December 7th, 1975. This left some 1,700 remaining in Dili, said Gen Syahnakri at a joint press conference with Gen Cosgrove, and only 4,500 in all of East Timor from a previous total of 15,000.
The press conference in Indonesian army headquarters was almost drowned out by the roar of Australian air power. Interfet soldiers in battle gear, cradling automatic rifles, stood around the room in what seemed a deliberate signal to the Indonesian commander that TNI was no longer in charge. Indeed, Gen Cosgrove confirmed that next week the security of Dili would be formally handed over to Interfet and the TNI's role would be simply to secure its remaining bases until a full pull-out in November.
During the week TNI soldiers have been burning army houses and barracks as they prepared to evacuate and they are also suspected of having helped to set fire to almost the whole of the East Timor capital in the past two weeks. Yesterday Australian soldiers realised that the 10th Indonesian Battalion preparing to leave their seaside villa had brought in benzine to set it on fire. The Australians made a formal protest and, under the gaze of TV cameras, Interfet soldiers and two hovering helicopters, the Indonesians left without setting the villa on fire. They did, however, leave it in a mess and covered the interior walls and even bedclothes with paint-spray graffiti praising Aitarak and attacking Xanana Gusmao, the leader of the East Timorese resistance. Ten minutes after they left, a military vehicle carrying four Indonesian officers returned. One of them, who would not give his name, said in perfect English with a straight face to a group of us who had occupied the wicker chairs: "I came back to make sure the building was not burned down. That would be against international law and would give TNI a bad name."
Reuters reports
A senior Defence Ministry official said in Bangkok yesterday that Thailand was alarmed by TV pictures showing Australian soldiers pointing guns at the heads of militia suspects in East Timor. He said Thai troops planned to take a more "softly-softly" approach when they were deployed in East Timor next month.