Relief officials working under the United Nations umbrella in East Timor are complaining that the multinational force sent in to rescue the territory is moving too slowly, delaying urgently needed aid supplies.
"The crux of the problem is that Interfet was deployed here to enable and support a humanitarian operation," said one veteran relief worker referring to the International Force in East Timor.
"That is the entire point of the Interfet security presence. Instead, the humanitarian operation has been subordinated to war games against what appears to be a nonexistent enemy."
The Australian-led Interfet troops began arriving two weeks ago but are far from securing most parts of the territory so that hundreds of thousands driven out of their homes can return.
An estimated 200,000 East Timorese live in what one aid worker described as very difficult conditions over the border in West Timor, where they were herded by pro-Jakarta militias bent on revenge after the territory voted for independence.
Aid workers are mystified, refugees impatient and pro-independence FALINTIL guerrillas angry at the delay in East Timor.
FALINTIL's senior field commander, Mr Taur Ma Ruak, said on Sunday his men - mostly voluntarily confined to containment areas at UN request - are willing to sort out the remaining militia members if Interfet doesn't want the job.
Except in Dili and along the border with West Timor, Indonesian army forces have largely withdrawn from East Timor.
On Monday night an Australian army camp in the East Timorese town of Balibo went on alert when two armed men were seen close to its perimeter, military officials said yesterday.
Journalists in Balibo, 75 km south-west of Dili, were told to douse fires and turn off all computers and telephones after the international force received a warning of a possible attack. Australian troops using night vision equipment later spotted two men close to the camp's perimeter.
"They were wearing uniforms and well trained. They were obviously part of a well-trained military unit," an Australian military spokesman said.
The area is almost entirely deserted - the only permanent resident of Balibo is an elderly woman - although some people do come across the border to scavenge for food during the day.
The UN refugee agency yesterday rejected Indonesia's registering of East Timorese refugees in West Timor for return home and also ruled out Indonesian troops participating in UN repatriations.
Just a day after announcing plans to return thousands of East Timorese to their ruined homeland from the crowded camps in West Timor, the Geneva-based UNHCR criticised Indonesian officials for registering the refugees for repatriation.
Spokesman Mr Kris Janowski said UNHCR would not recognise the outcome of the exercise, due to possible intimidation of refugees, and would carry out its own registration.
Meanwhile, East Timorese spiritual leader Bishop Carlos Belo hopes to return to his homeland today, a month after he was spirited out of the country to escape pro-Indonesia militias. "Maybe tomorrow," Dr Belo said in Darwin yesterday when asked if he planned to return to Dili.
Dr Belo's return to the East Timor capital would be the first by a senior independence figure since violence broke out after an overwhelming vote on August 30th in favour of independence from Indonesia.