On the ground in Dili (2)

IT’S REALLY HARD to say what’s happening at the moment. In the past hour we’ve had nearby shooting (probably involving Australian troops) and a flurry of Australian military helicopters over and around the UN compound.

Smoke is rising now from — I think — the Timor military office a block from here (I drove past it this morning).

Since this afternoon, Australian soldiers are also posted at the back of the compound (right by the UNICEF offices, and directly opposite the President’s Office).

We woke this morning confident that the situation would ease a lot today, cooked some of our last food for the guards (we actually don’t have home security, but the neighbours on each side do, but they’ve left and the guards always look after us too: their security firm has obviously abandoned them but, remarkably, they’re staying 24 hours a day). Drove in to UN around 9.30am, by which time all the people evacuating to Darwin had left for the airport.

I helped one Timorese colleague in the ‘back’ UN gate, fortunately whilst the UN Mission security weren’t around (they kept coming into our area to prevent Timorese — even UN staff — from entering). (To explain, the ompound’s ‘front’ half is the Barracks for the UN Mission, and — only since February — the ‘back’ half is the former Mission hospital area now occupied by the various UN agencies, such as UNICEF, WHO, etc. The ‘back’ half is also right next door to the police compound where Thursday’s shoot-out occurred.)

We’ve been checking throughout the day with different Timorese friends, and the situation is grim. Rang my friend Joao (still camped out at the airport with his family) and we could see that the smoke from this morning burnings likely included his house.

Cousin of Xanana

Another colleague had made her way to the Australian Embassy for evacuation, but confirmed that her house had been destroyed (she’s a cousin of Xanana, and it’s necessary for her to evacuate for her own sake, with her family). The chap I helped into the compound yesterday, with his wife clutching the virgin Mary statue, found out this afternoon that his house is now also destroyed (although it’s still to be reliably confirmed — there’s so much speculation to sort through). A number of colleagues have now fled into the districts.

So, unsurprisingly, our morning’s confidence of returning home mid-afternoon to rest is now a remote prospect. By late morning, the UN agencies had met in UNICEF to plan some careful field trips to check the situation (especially in areas where people are gathering for refuge). When they finished, Madhu and I prepared some lunch, especially for those about to head out into field trips.

There’s still large numbers of people camped outside the UN compound. If I hear reliably, the political situation should ‘develop’ tomorrow, and then the situation on the ground could be even more unpredictable.

It seems that the Australian Government may be sufficiently aware of the extent of the breakdown that further reinforcements will be necessary. Meanwhile, the UN Mission leadership still sees no need to move to security level 4.

Interruption. It’s now 5.30pm. Just about to click ‘send’ and we got clearance to drive home and collect some belongings (mainly our passports and extra Guardian Weeklies which I’d foolishly left behind this morning). A clear trip, and we got nice smiles from Timorese neighbours pleased to see us still around.

The nuns’ house next door is now home to 2500 women and children.

We took the opportunity to pack extra bags ‘just in case’, but opted not to bring them with us, as this would have been quite demoralising to the Timorese gathered near our house. It’s obviously so important for them to see that they haven’t been fully
abandoned. We both hope we’re here until everything clears. We gave the guards our last bottle of water; no food left.

Opened fire on

On the way back we saw the spot where the Timorese police were opened fire on by the military on Thursday: branches mark the place, which is otherwise recognisable by the several shoes still laying there on the road. We also passed a father and his two young sons making their way home from some minor looting: one boy happily carrying a sparkling white pair of cheap sneakers. We were told it was a truck from one of the districts that had been looted. And a number of shops were attacked today.

Another interruption. It’s now 6.30pm, and we’d learnt that the UN cafe has more ‘real’ coffee (East Timor is an odd place for any cafe to run out of coffee beans). A good chance to catch up on more goings-on. For example, re my earlier-mentioned
frictions (or, at least, ‘failure to communicate’) between UN Mission and UN Agencies in ensuring evacuations: evidently, the arrangements made for the UN evacuees upon arrival in Darwin only applied to the UN Mission personnel. UN Agency people and their families presumably had to make their own plans. Not sure about this yet.

Fortunately, the adviser that Kofi Annan has appointed to liaise with him on East Timor, Ian Martin, arrives tomorrow. I can’t recall the Special Representative to the Secretary-General in charge of the UN Mission here specifically mentioning this appointment in any UN briefings (referred to in the bizarre folksey language of the UN family as ‘townhall meetings’), so that might indicate the Secretary-General’s concern that he’s not being properly informed. We’ll see …

So, definitely staying in the UN compound tonight. We could go home but feel it best to stay with others. Madhu is busily collating information on damage to Timorese staffs’ homes, continuing to monitor whereabouts of absent staff, help with new programming discussions between UN agencies, and preparing press releases to start getting better UNICEF information out.

Anyway, let’s see what tomorrow brings. Our main curiosity is of Xanana’s anticipated moves to strengthen national leadership (which Alkitiri is reported on an ABC report I heard during the night as characterising as a coup d’etat).

So, until tomorrow — enjoy ‘Answered by Fire’ tonight! Did the ABC know more than they let on when they deferred it from last Sunday? I think the Beaconsfield mine broadcast was a pre-text only.

Robert Johnson
Dili