It also forecasts a bloody payback by pro-independence Falintil guerillas if the vote goes against Indonesia. In such a case, the Indonesian government will not be able to wash its hands of the problem, if later the integration forces are butchered. This could become the pretext for instigating a bloodbath, as the generals did in Suharto's 1965-66 coup and again following the 1975 Timor invasion. The Indonesian regime, which is still essentially run by the military, is determined to cling to its rule and substantial business investments in East Timor. Information Minister General Yunus Yosfiah warned Indonesian civil servants working in the territory that they would be sacked if they supported independence.
Aid agencies report that the militia terror is worsening.
They estimate that 60,000 people have been forced to flee their homes, which have often been torched or ransacked by pro-integration militias. Most are living in terrible conditions, lacking proper shelter, food, clothing, sanitation and medical services. Malaria, dysentery, TB, diarrhoea, scabies and infected sores caused by malnutrition are rife. Militias have blocked UN-backed relief convoys seeking to deliver food and medicine to refugees. Another 11,000 refugees are in Dili, unable to return to their villages to register for the ballot.