UNITED NATIONS Condemning "the brutal murder" of three UN relief workers in West Timor, the UN Security Council told Indonesia on Friday to immediately disarm and disband militias there, AFP said.
The 15 council members voted unanimously for a resolution which also underlined that the United Nations peacekeeping force in East Timor should "respond robustly" to cross-border threats by the militia.
The resolution condemned the "outrageous and contemptible" killings of three staff of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Atambua, West Timor on Wednesday.
It stressed that "those responsible for the attacks on international personnel in West and East Timor must be brought to justice." The Security Council pointed out that the dead men an American, a Croat and an Ethiopian were in West Timor to assist refugees who fled East Timor when the militias laid the territory to waste after it voted for independence from Indonesia a year ago.
East Timorese leaders Xanana Gusmao and Jose Ramos-horta were invited to be present when the council voted.
Earlier Friday, the two called on South-East Asian nations to restore law and order in West Timor if Indonesia failed to do so.