E. Timor Needs Outside Help

Indonesia’s proclamation of martial law in East Timor has done little to quell the chaos that followed the Aug. 30 vote for independence from Jakarta’s rule. That’s because the thugs who have been murdering and pillaging their way around the island are creatures of the Indonesian military, which has run East Timor since it invaded the former Portuguese colony 24 years ago and now openly abets the anti-independence gangs.

Indonesia is nominally under civilian rule. But President B.J. Habibie so far won’t or can’t rein in the generals. If order is to come to East Timor it will have to be imposed from outside. Australia and New Zealand have offered troops to suppress the anarchy. Malaysia, the Philippines and others have been approached about contributing to a peacekeeping force.

U.S. troops are not required and, given American responsibilities elsewhere, should not be offered. But possible U.N. Security Council authorization for international intervention awaits the return of a special mission sent to Indonesia to assess the situation. Indonesia’s annexation of East Timor in 1976 has never been recognized by the United Nations, but some council members might insist on Jakarta’s permission for any armed intervention.

Meanwhile, economic pressures on Jakarta are rising. The World Bank has warned that its $5.9-billion package to aid Indonesia’s recovery from economic near-collapse could be in jeopardy. Disbursements from a $49-billion rescue program assembled under the auspices of the International Monetary Fund might be delayed. Jakarta’s technocrats understand that these are serious threats. But the military, whose first priority is to hold on to its authority, might not care at all.

Opposition to Jakarta’s repressive rule over East Timor has stirred one of the world’s longest guerrilla wars and taken an estimated 200,000 lives. Some 100,000 Timorese have fled or been expelled from their homes in recent days, among them Roman Catholic Bishop Carlos Ximenes Belo, a Nobel Peace Prize winner. There is a strong odor of ethnic cleansing in the depredations. If the Jakarta government can’t halt this outrage, others should act.