The Rory Peck Trust: The Free Lens

Max Stahl: The East Timor Stories

The results of the August 30 referendum were announced the day after my arrival in Dili. There was immediately a dramatic increase in the burning, looting and sporadic killings by militias. Following intimidation, and violence against a BBC cameraman, the press decided to abandon East Timor, followed by a flood of other key media, and the withdrawal of all three satellite dishes. The story turned from drama to crisis to imminent catastrophe.

Some 600 journalists had been reduced to a handful, mainly freelancers and scribblers, most corralled in the UN compound. Around 6 held out in the Turismo hotel where, shortly after joining them, I heard an unearthly sound of wailing accompanied by heavy shooting. Police, armed with automatic weapons to 'protect' us journalists, attempted to stop me from getting to the balcony overlooking the Red Cross compound next door. But they did nothing to stop the five gun wielding militia terrorising 1500 refugees who were rolling on the ground in abject terror. Fortunately their own fear of the automatic gunfire all around prevented them from getting to me before I had briefly filmed. With the help of two enterprising female colleagues screaming "don't come in we're calling the Australian consul!" behind a bedroom door, I copied the tape.

We were taken under escort to the UN compound, by now under a cloud of smoke from burning buildings all around. It took two days for the UN to decide - without warning - to abandon the compound and the Timorese, whom they had promised to stay with come what may. Informed of the decision only hours before the planned pull out, and now fearing immediate death at the hands of militia and military, hundreds of the estimated 2000 refugees in the compound fled under the wire and up a steep rocky hill behind. With the help of Jose Belo (now AP correspondent in Dili) I escaped under the wire myself, joining the scores of thousands of refugees now sleeping rough along the watercourses, in the coffee groves and patches of shelterscrub above the burning city. I filmed with a small infrared capable dv camera which provided startling images of desperate people, old women and small children, plastic bags and all.

Walking 8 or more hours a day, I attempted to cover the events unfolding on the mountain - military attacks, people wounded or killed, civilians simply sick and afraid. Charging batteries was a problem. A generator turned on for a few hours each day in the seminary at Dare village was one option, some cars driven into the scrub along a stream offered another. But many hours a day were spent simply moving to be able to charge camera and telephone.

Food was also getting short. Young men going into the city to scavenge were shot at by Indonesian soldiers positioned overlooking the entry points. After two weeks a UN force arrived in Dili. I set out to find evidence of killings beyond UN lines.

Dogs, pigs and cattle were eating bodies left lying around. Many victims had been disposed of in the sea or in mass graves. Medical supplies were critically lacking for people still living in the bush. As the media interest waned I moved onto more investigative stories, attempting to assess the number of people who had died in the organized mayhem and gather evidence before it was too late. The massacre of 3 priests and scores of refugees at the church in SUAI was perhaps the most dramatic of many hideous cases. Here, I visited the remains of the church as relatives came down from the hills for the first time - a harrowing story. I found it amazingly difficult to place.

Most media by this time had moved on to other things.

Issue 7
November 2000

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