As East Timor celebrates the first anniversary today of the referendum which ended 24 years of Indonesian rule, the commander of the 8,000-strong United Nations force in East Timor has confirmed that several bands of pro-Indonesian militia have crossed the border recently and penetrated deep inside the former Portuguese colony.
In an interview with The Irish Times, Lieut Gen Boonsrang Niumpradit of Thailand also acknowledged that the blue-helmeted peacekeepers are deliberately not confronting the heavily armed bands, saying: "We do not want to exchange lives with those people."
The presence of the pro-Jakarta militants has cast a shadow over celebrations today to mark the August 30th referendum. In the days immediately after the ballot, Indonesian-backed militias massacred an estimated 1,200 people, drove almost 300,000 across the border and burned towns and villages before fleeing as an Australian-led intervention force arrived.
East Timorese leaders have reacted angrily to the reappearance of the militias, who have kept a low profile but are terrorising villagers in the west and central areas by their presence.
Mr Xanana Gusmao, president of the National Council of Timorese Resistance (CNRT), said that in his opinion, as a former guerrilla leader, if the militias came from West Timor to fight them in East Timor, "then we should strike back and destroy them inside West Timor".
He accused "someone in Indonesia" of trying to sabotage East Timor independence "counting on the fact that peacekeeping has been a disaster in some parts of the world" and he called on the UN to review everything, "not only to avoid casualties but to be more aggressive and destroy the capacity of the enemy".
Mr Jose Ramos Horta, the CNRT vice-president, urged that Falintil resistance fighters, confined to a cantonment near the capital Dili, should be allowed to take on the militia, saying that "in a month or two they can track down and kill one by one all the militias".
Mr Sergio Vieira de Mellor, head of the United Nations Interim Administration in East Timor (UNTAET) asserted that peacekeepers would take tough action against the pro-Jakarta bands if they refused to lay down their weapons.
"We believe that some of them may have had no choice but to come in the way they did, that is with SKS rifles, ammunition etc because that was the only way that they would be able to leave West Timor," he said.
"With some dialogue, some reassurance they might be prepared to lay down their weapons and surrender." If they refused, "it might be possible to surround some of them and either force them to surrender or take more drastic action."
However, Gen Niumpradit, interviewed at UN military headquarters in Dili, said that eight to 10 militia groups with five to 25 members each were present in East Timor and that, while they could disarm them if they really wanted to, "the rules do not allow UN soldiers doing that. We are not in a position to do that. We have to use another strategy."
He praised the level of co-operation from Indonesian military in West Timor but said some Indonesian soldiers were supporting militias with whom they had formed friendships.
A UN military spokesman, Lieut Col Brynjar Nymo, said yesterday no military action against the militias was planned, but extra troops were being sent to the area to drop leaflets encouraging them to give up.
The militias, based in camps containing about 120,000 East Timorese refugees in West Timor, have killed two UN peacekeepers, a New Zealander and a Nepalese, since they began their penetration of East Timor in July. Despite the promises of co-operation from Indonesia, militia roadblocks have recently appeared in West Timor.
The UN refugee agency has suspended aid operations for East Timorese refugees after three of its employees were assaulted by militia thugs.
The UN Human Rights Commissioner, Mrs Mary Robinson, said on Australian television that the issue of the militias must be addressed urgently.
"I think that is a tragedy for those who need their support, who need registration for return to East Timor. So this is really a very high priority," she said.