Civil war raging

Press, Volume CXV, Issue 33929, 23 August 1975, Page 15

Civil war raging

'* Z P A Reuter — Copyright) LISBON. August 22. Portugal has sent a top envoy to the United Nations headquarters as 1 Portuguese authorities on the island of Timor said that a ‘’bloodbath civil war” was raging in the territory. h Grim accounts cf the situ-h ation there were related to! the Portuguese people on! television last night by a ■ military administrator!i recently returned from the i island where fierce fighting; broke out after a reported * coup on August 11. Major Francisco Mota, re-j >ponsible for political affairs. > in Timor, said that mortar[ i bombs were raining on the;, capital of Dili as the two; main political parties fought!< it out in the citv. f Hundreds of Portuguese civilians hoping to be evac- I uated were sheltering in the|< port area under the protec-! tion of two platoons of Por- i I ruguese paratroopers, he! 1 said. j I Meanwhile, Dr Antonio ; Aimeida Santos, the Minister'; of Overseas Territories until!; last month, is flying to New! York later today for talks! i with the U.N. Secretary'-Gen-h eral (Dr Kurt Waldheim)!] which are almost certain to) include the fighting between 1 the Timor Democratic Union,: tU.D.T.) and the Left-wing; , Revolutionary Front for an , Independent East Timor: (Fretilin). A Presidential commun-

, ique issued in Lisbon yesterday said that the fighting ( was out of control. It gave no casualty figures, but official sources said many ,people had been killed. Portuguese authorities in i Timor said yesterday that : only international intervention could control the I situation there, and last I night Major Mota appealed for intervention and aid to j Portugal by international bodies, especially the U.N. The Foreign Ministry announced earlier that it had' asked the International Red! : Cross to help foreign nat-! ionais in the island. Fretilin blamed Major Mota, whose televised remarks were based on the latest military reports, said that locally-recruited Timor troops had broken out] of their barracks to join the* fighting. Most of them favoured! Fretilin, but the U.D.T. could icount on 1300 men. he said. He blamed the Fretilin I leadership for the “bloodbath" because its main mem- : bers had refused to have , any dialogue with the Portu(guese or the U.D.T. towards la peaceful solution. He said he was sure Indonesia — which adminis- ■ ters the peaceful western half of the island — would not involve itself in any “warlike adventures”, but , added that if the situation be--1 came worse or if the Fretilin came to power he had great fears for the future of Timor. Brigadier General Ignatius!

Pranoto, the Indonesian military commander whose territory includes Indonesian Timor, has left his base on the tourist island of Bali for Kupang, capita) of Indonesian Timor, after the reports of civil war, military sources said in Jakarta today. Major Mota hinted that Indonesia might have had a hand in the troubles when he said that before the U.D.T. staged its August 11 coup, its secretary-general ■and another party leader' ivisited Jakarta. * “During this visit, but this , iis only a deduction we are making, they (the U.D.T.! leaders) might have received) some sort of backing for* their action.” he said.