The prospect of a ballot on autonomy in East Timor on August 8th, as proposed on Tuesday by Indonesian president Mr B.J Habibie, was thrown into doubt yesterday when the pro-integration militias in the territory rejected the plan and vowed to fight United Nations monitors sent to supervise the vote.
At the same time Bishop Carlos Belo, spiritual leader of the mainly Catholic population of 800,000, said that the people were so afraid after recent massacres of civilians that a free vote was impossible.
Underscoring his remarks, the leading East Timorese advocate of independence, Mr Manuel Carrascalao, said yesterday he was fleeing to Australia because he feared for the safety of his family. His son was hacked to death by militias in the capital, Dili, on April 17th.
Mr Carrascalao said he would try to come back before the ballot but all pro-independence figures are now in hiding and unlikely to emerge unless under the protection of an international police force.
Australia, Britain, the United States, the Philippines and Germany are expected to supply officers to monitor the vote but will want to ensure they do not face armed opposition.
Despite a written promise by Gen Wiranto, leader of the Indonesian armed forces (ABRI), last week to disarm the military-backed militias, they continue to intimidate the population with guns and tribal weapons.
"We reject a direct ballot," the overall militia leader, Mr Jose Estevao Soares, told reporters yesterday after meeting the British Junior Foreign Office Minister, Mr Derek Fatchett, in Dili. "We will fight anybody who wants to trouble us and force us to accept their ways."
Accompanied by Mr Eurico Guterres, leader of the Aitarak (Thorn) militia which killed the son of Manuel Carrascalao, he said the militias would not accept disarmament.
President Habibie said in January that Indonesia might let East Timor go it alone if it rejected his autonomy offer. Speaking on Portuguese radio, Bishop Belo said yesterday that fear could force the Timorese to back Jakarta's proposal for autonomy.
In a letter to the Vatican's Agencia Ecclesia, the Nobel laureate accused the Indonesian secret service and the army of involvement in the recent violence.
A former governor of East Timor, Mr Mario Carrascalao, an adviser to President Habibie, has taken refuge in Lisbon following death threats from militia squads. The pro-independence brother of Mr Manuel Carrascalao said he wanted to resign his role on the president's consultative council "because I want to be a free man".