Precedence: bulk U.N. force pours soldiers into southwest E.Timor By Kurt Schork SUAI, East Timor, Oct 10 (Reuters) - New Zealand troops poured into southwestern East Timor on Sunday by air, land and sea as part of a U.N.-backed multinational security operation aimed at ending mass killings by anti-independence militia. ``Our mission is to establish a vigorous security presence in the Suai area,'' Major John Howard, who commanded the New Zealand soldiers, told Reuters. Later, obviously excited and pleased by the performance of his men, Howard added: ``This was the first live company-scale air mobile operation for New Zealand since the Vietnam war. We have been training for this for many years. Things look good so far.'' The first 70 of his troops loaded onto Australian Blackhawk helicopters in the East Timor capital Dili in darkness and thundered out of the dawn sky onto the airstrip at Hollbelis, outside Suai, just before 5:30 a.m. (2130 GMT on Saturday). With the troops were some Malaysian soldiers tasked as translators to the U.N. force, known by the acronym INTERFET. They fanned out and secured the perimeter of the airstrip, relieving special forces soldiers who had held the outpost since Wednesday. The troops staggered across the runway under crushing loads of ammunition, communications gear, food and water. At 7 a.m. (2300 GMT on Saturday), two Blackhawk helicopters deposited another 30 New Zealand troops on the black sand beach at Suai Loro to secure that area for an amphibious landing. As the helicopters hovered a few feet above the beach, kicking up huge billows of sand, the soldiers jumped to the ground and slogged away to take up defensive positions. AREA SWEPT FOR MINES Demolition teams swept the landing area for mines and a lone soldier waded 20 feet into light surf to probe for underwater obstacles and holes that might disrupt an amphibious landing. The site was marked with white tape, and just before 10 a.m. (0200 GMT), landing craft appeared on the horizon to the south. For unexplained reasons, two Australian craft landed about 300 metres west of the site marked by the New Zealanders. Four New Zealand armoured personnel carriers cranked up to the beach and took up positions in the scrub growth outside Suai Loro. The Australian amphibious landing team then unrolled a fibrous white mat that provided firm traction for trucks loaded with stores and other support vehicles to get up on the beach and into town. ``Our guys are pretty pumped up today. We're very happy to be here. This has been an excellent operation so far,'' said Lieutenant Scott Cordwell, who commanded a platoon of New Zealand soldiers that secured the beach. By the end of Sunday, Major Howard said he expected to have about 150 combat troops, four armoured vehicles and a number of trucks and other support vehicles operating on the ground. An advance contingent of INTERFET special forces troops that had been operating in Suai moved on as the Kiwis arrived, presumably taking up positions further west along the border with West Timor. In the centre of Suai, people expressed excitement at the arrival of yet more troops in the area, but said they still have security concerns. ``I hope these soldiers patrol at night. There have been soldiers here for a few days but we never saw them at night,'' said Abelina da Costa, 34, who trekked down from the mountains with her husband and four children where they had been hiding. ``We need soldiers in town at night. That's when we're most afraid of the militia.'' Suai was a stronghold of anti-independence militia estimated to have killed thousands in East Timor since the territory overwhelmingly rejected Indonesian rule in an August 30 vote. 02:24 10-10-99 ---------- SiaR WEBSITE: http://apchr.murdoch.edu.au/minihub/siarlist/maillist.html
