Armored personnel carriers rolled from the bellies of Hercules transport planes and clattered down the rubbish-strewn streets of Dili. Timorese refugees in tattered clothes watched in amazement.
But the real test for the 7,500-member international force will come when it spreads into remote areas to protect a still terrified populace. It was unclear whether the militias would fade away or transform themselves into guerrilla fighters sniping and harassing the unwanted foreigners.
In wave after wave, the transport planes from Northern Australia airlifted more than 1,000 soldiers and tons of ammunition, explosives, land mines and supplies.
The troops arrived in a city abandoned by its people and left in smoking ruins, with no food, no electricity, no clean water and thousands of desperate refugees trying to get out. Within hours of beginning the operation at dawn, heavily armed combat troops from Australia, New Zealand and Britain were in control of the airport and the harbor, the two vital links to the city.
As they moved through town, the troops could see black smoke from fresh fires billowing over the city and, in the evening, the glow of flames in the countryside.
''There is a lot of destruction,'' said Australian Maj. Chip Henriss-Andersen. But some residents emerged into the streets to gawk. Some shook hands with the troops and smiled.
''A lot of people were saying 'Hello Mister,' probably their only English,'' said Henriss-Andersen, a naturalized Australian born in Cleveland, Ohio. ''I think pretty soon we'll have them saying 'G'day.'''
The airlift was to continue through the night, and by daybreak today operation commanders said they hoped to have 2,300 troops in the half-island territory.
''It's been quite an encouraging day. Everything's gone very smoothly,'' said Duncan Lewis, the Australian military spokesperson in Canberra.
The arrival of the force just five days after it was authorized by the U.N. Security Council spelled the beginning of the end of Indonesian rule in East Timor, where four-fifths of the people voted for independence in an Aug. 30 referendum.
Despite threats to attack the international force, there was no sign of the pro-Indonesian militias launched a campaign of arson, terror and murder.
09-21-99
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