The Indonesia military yesterday handed control of East Timor over to multinational troops, in a retreat which left behind a token military presence of about 1,500 in the territory it occupied for 24 years and a proxy army of militias.
As the Indonesians pulled out, reportedly killing nuns and priests in the town of Baucau on their way, the UN Human Rights Commission agreed to set up an international inquiry into abuses committed in East Timor.
The commission president, Ms Anne Anderson of Ireland, said that 27 of the commission's 53 members voted in Geneva in favour of the proposal, while 12 voted against. Eleven members abstained and three were absent.
The commission had been scheduled to vote on an inquiry last Friday, but 11 Asian nations, including Indonesia, opposed the text and the meeting was adjourned to yesterday. The Asians had argued that Jakarta showed good faith by allowing a UN international force into East Timor and setting up its own investigation into abuses by Indonesian army-backed militias.
But Amnesty International and other rights groups called for a rapid inquiry into massacres and warned against any ties between a UN investigation and that by Indonesia.
The international peacekeeping force in East Timor (Interfet) admitted the Indonesian troops' departure had left a potentially dangerous power vacuum. But the force's Australian commander, Maj Gen Peter Cosgrove, insisted his troops were capable of filling it. "There is now, of course, a vacuum, and we must ensure that we maintain a security environment conducive to government, to administration, to the delivery of aid," he said.
Some 150 Australian troops were dispatched yesterday to Liquisa, 35km west of Dili, following reports that 30 militiamen had moved into the town to terrorise it. Backed by helicopters and armoured cars, soldiers rushed into the town, the site of a notorious militia massacre of refugees in March. The gang fled before the soldiers arrived.
Maj Gen Cosgrove rejected criticism that his tactics in dealing with ruthless opponents were "ultra-cautious". "It is very good to be bullish but it's more important that we are effective," he said.
"This is a multinational force. Part of our constituency is to ensure that we behave with the judgment and restraint that will preserve the coalition."
The fragility of Asian countries' commitment to the Australian-led force was underlined yesterday when Thailand scaled back its offer of troops from 1,700 to 1,000, and South Korea's opposition parties said they would seek to block participation to preserve good relations with Indonesia.
The UN Mission in East Timor (UNAMET) announced it had found two more mass graves in Dili's Becora area containing a total of six bodies. "If we discover that there has been foul play or violent death, we will ask for an official investigation," the UNAMET spokesman, Mr David Wimhurst, said. They were the third and fourth graves found.
President Clinton appealed for "responsible leadership" in Indonesia to carry it through the East Timor crisis. In a brief Rose Garden exchange with reporters, he said US relations with Indonesia would be dictated by Jakarta's future conduct.
The US Secretary of State, Ms Madeleine Albright, earlier demanded that the Indonesian army stop "colluding" with militias against East Timorese in West Timor refugee camps and warned that US aid would remain suspended until the situation vastly improved. She was speaking after talks with the East Timorese leader, Mr Xanana Gusmao.