The Indonesian Government announced yesterday that the East Timor resistance leader, Mr Jose Xanana Gusmao, will be released from house arrest in Jakarta today or tomorrow. But he will not be forced to go immediately to Dili in view of the violence there.
A special United Nations mission at ambassador level is on its way to Jakarta today to urge the Indonesian government to stop the army-backed militia violence in East Timor. Mr Jamsheed Marker, the personal representative of the UN Secretary General, Mr Kofi Annan, conveyed a message from the United Nations Security Council to the Indonesian leader.
"I made it quite clear that Indonesia had failed in its responsibility to maintain adequate security," said Mr Marker, who faced aggressive questioning from western reporters at a press conference in Jakarta about alleged UN inactivity.
After declaring on Sunday that Mr Gusmao would be delivered into the care of the United Nations in Dili, the Indonesian Justice Minister, Mr Muladi, conferred with the East Timorese leader yesterday and then said he was free to go where he chose.
Australia yesterday offered sanctuary to Mr Gusmao, whose lawyers said that it would be suicide for him to go to the East Timor capital in present circumstances. As the estimated death toll from the violence rose into hundreds - with armed militias controlling the streets - it was impossible to verify casualty figures. Australia put troops on emergency alert last night, increasing its readiness to send peacekeeping forces at short notice.
The Australian Defence Minister, Mr John Moore, said in Canberra after a government meeting that troop readiness was reduced to 24 from 72 hours. "This will provide the government with a wider range of options including, of course, the capability to contribute to any international security presence in East Timor," he said.
However, peacekeeping troops would not be deployed without Indonesian government permission, he added.
Shots were fired at the Australian consulate in Dili and at a car carrying Australia's ambassador to Indonesia, Mr John McCarthy, but he was unharmed. The Australian Foreign Minister, Mr Alexander Downer, said: " We have to say we are absolutely outraged. For our ambassador to be shot at and for our consulate to be shot at is completely unacceptable.
A UN official in Dili said: "They have crossed all the lines and, having crossed those lines, I don't know where they are going to stop."
The head of UNAMET, Mr David Wimhurst, said there had been open collusion between the militia and the soldiers and police.
The Australian Prime Minister, Mr John Howard, spoke to the UN Secretary-General, Mr Kofi Annan, by telephone as calls from around the world for a peacekeeping force increased.
The violence intensified after the United Nations declared on Saturday that 78.5 per cent of East Timor voters had opted for independence from Indonesia, rather than autonomy. Fears that international anger could lead foreign donors to suspend loans dragged down stocks and Indonesia's currency, the rupiah.
The opposition leader, Ms Megawati Sukarnoputri, whose party won June's parliamentary election in Indonesia, blamed President Habibie for the violence. In an emotional speech, she said a schizophrenic government policy had caused the unrest.
"The violent acts . . . are the responsibility of President B.J. Habibie in his position as the head of state, head of government and the supreme commander of the Indonesian armed forces, as well as the police of the Republic of Indonesia," she told a news conference. "The recent riots that continue to take place following the referendum have been caused by a bifocal central government."
In Jakarta yesterday the three UN commissioners appointed to verify the East Timor poll said complaints from the pro-autonomy side were not sufficient to affect their judgement that the result accurately reflected the wishes of the people.
"Each and every complaint was investigated whether it came from the government, from the pro-autonomy, from the pro-independence side," commissioner Mr Johann Kriegler said at a press conference in the presidential palace.
Another commissioner, Mr Pat Bradley from Northern Ireland, who said he had 27 years' experience of elections, concluded, "The irregularities were not of significance."
Mr Jamsheed Marker said, "There can be no doubt that the overwhelming majority of the people of this troubled land wish to separate from Indonesia."
The UN press conference was organised after Indonesian Foreign Minister Mr Ali Alatas suggested on Sunday that pro-autonomy complaints were the cause of the violence.
Mr Kriegler, who organised the first multi-party elections in South Africa in 1994, said, "Not one single irregularity was considered by the commission to bear one iota on the evaluation it had to make. The people have spoken with a clear and unmistakable `no' to the pro-autonomy group."