Under U.N. supervision, 98.6 percent of the 450,000 eligible voters turned out to choose between independence and autonomy within Indonesia. The overwhelming majority–78.5 percent–chose independence. Long before the tally was complete, the militiamen began to make good on their threat to turn East Timor into a “sea of fire” if its people opted for freedom. The bloodshed was worst in the west, the militiamen’s stronghold, where at least four local U.N. workers were killed and six more were missing. “They are out of control. They are crazy,” said one evacuated U.N. employee. Indonesian security forces did little to stop the violence. Instead, the government said it might accept U.N. peacekeeping troops in East Timor. But the United Nations won’t send peacekeepers without a ceasefire. If the militiamen can provoke a civil war by announcing secession in the west, there won’t be any peace to keep.
