A senior Indonesian general has rejected charges that the military is setting the scene for a civil war in East Timor if Jakarta lets the former Portuguese territory go it alone.
Pro-independence Timorese and human rights groups have accused the armed forces (ABRI) of giving guns to pro-Jakarta Timorese loyalists to fan rivalry in the troubled province.
"ABRI will never lay down the conditions that may trigger a civil war, as has been accused," said Major-General Agus Wirahadikusumah, the assistant for planning and strategic policies to ABRI commander Gen Wiranto. He repeated Gen Wiranto's pledge that the military would support the government if it decided to grant independence to the eastern half of Timor island.
President B.J. Habibie says Jakarta will consider letting East Timor go if East Timorese reject an offer of more autonomy over most of their affairs.
Indonesia's ambassador to Australia, Mr Wiryono Sastrohandoyo, said yesterday he saw little hope of peace in an independent East Timor because the troubled territory was "full of poison". Asked about the possibility of a return to the civil war that followed Portugal's abrupt withdrawal in 1975, Mr Wiryono said: "I hope not, but they were fighting during the colonial period, they were fighting when the Portuguese left.
"I hope that they will embrace each other, forget and forgive, but I don't know. The atmosphere is full of poison and that poison has to be removed," he said in an interview.
An Indonesian reformist and presidential candidate, Mr Amien Rais, said on Sunday he supported a referendum on the future of East Timor and warned against abandoning the troubled territory.
"We need a reasonable transition period," he told a press conference during a two-day visit to Hong Kong. "East Timor cannot just be abandoned like when the Portugese left 20 years ago," he said.
Indonesia invaded East Timor in 1975 after Portugal pulled out. Jakarta annexed the territory the following year in a move not recognised by the United Nations.
Jakarta has faced a low-level guerrilla war and mounting international opposition to its rule there ever since.
In another part of the archipelago, troops were on guard in the eastern island of Haruku in the Moluccas yesterday after more than 15 people were killed in weekend clashes between Muslims and Christians, residents said.
"The situation has been brought under control because troops are on guard on the island," one official at the Haruku district head office said.
"We are still calculating the death toll."
Residents said the unrest erupted on Sunday and involved two villages in Haruku, 2,300 km (1,450 miles) east of Jakarta and next to the main island of Ambon, where more than 100 died in sectarian unrest last month.
Sunday's riots later spread to Saparua island, where nearly 20 houses were burned. No deaths were reported there. It was unclear what provoked the violence.
"We have so far identified the bodies of 13 Muslims killed in the riots," said Mr Thamrin Ely, an official with the Ambon chapter of the Indonesian Ulema Council, which groups Muslims religious teachers.
"At least 40 people were injured and dozens of houses burned," he said.
Meanwhile, the United Nations yesterday began a programme to help Indonesia stage its first general election since the fall of Gen Suharto by signing a technical assistance agreement with the British government.
A UN Development Programme (UNDP) resident representative, Mr Ravi Rajan, and the British ambassador to Indonesia, Mr Robin Christopher, signed a memorandum of understanding for $2 million in British aid to help prepare for the June 7th elections.
Mr Christopher, who said he was "very optimistic" the elections would be a success, said the British aid was a "clear signal of my government's support for the process of reform in Indonesia".
Much of the funds would be used to help prepare the parties themselves, he said, referring to the more than 100 parties that have sprung up since President Suharto's fall in May last year.