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Annan arrives in East Timor

DILI: UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan on Thursday arrived in ravaged East Timor where the world body is set to start a formal peacekeeping mission next week.

On Wednesday in Jakarta, Annan pressed Indonesia to ensure those responsible for the violence that almost destroyed the impoverished territory last year be brought to justice.

He was met by East Timorese leader Xanana Gusmao, the chief of the United Nations mission there, Sergio Vieira de Mello, and outgoing commander of the multinational forces Major-General Peter Cosgrove.

Annan, in East Timor for just 24 hours, made no comment to waiting reporters on arrival in the capital Dili, where he was greeted by tribal dancers and peacekeeping troops from his homeland Ghana.

He will talk with local leaders and visit the nearby town of Liquica, scene of some of the worst violence by pro-Jakarta militias before and after East Timorese overwhelmingly voted last August for independence from Indonesia.

A formal U.N. peacekeeping operation will take control of East Timor next week from a U.N.-mandated multinational force, which moved into the territory on September 20 to restore the peace after the violence.

A planned trip to U.N.-run refugee camps on the border with Indonesian West Timor was cancelled, officially because of logistical problems.

However, there have recently been reports of unrest in the area where pro-Jakarta militiamen still hold sway.

Hundreds are thought to have died in the violence and much of the territory was destroyed in a campaign of terror backed by the Indonesian military.

This week, the Indonesian military chief at the time, General Wiranto, was forced to step down from cabinet after he was implicated in an official investigation into the violence.

The government, under threat of an international war crimes tribunal, has promised to start trials of those involved in the atrocities in three months.

Annan has praised Indonesia's investigation but said that if those responsible were not brought to trial then the international community would do so.-Reuters