Indonesian riot police fight off students who took to the streets of Jakarta to demand an end to the Indonesian armed forces' presence in East Timor  ALSO: More than 30,000 flee as East Timor's capital smolders MESSAGE BOARD: Indonesia and East Timor VIDEO CNN's John King reports on White House reaction to East Timor (September 7) Real 28K 80K Windows Media 28K 80K

September 7, 1999
Web posted at: 10:30 p.m. EDT (0230 GMT)

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From staff and wire reports

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Clinton administration sources said Tuesday that the president supports sending an international security force into East Timor -- with or without Indonesia's permission -- unless order is restored within the next day or so.

Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, in Vietnam on her way to the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit, said she told Indonesian Foreign Minister Ali Alatas in a telephone call that time was running out for Jakarta to curtail the violence.

"I said to him (Alatas) that they did not have much time, that they had to deal with this; otherwise, it was essential for them to invite the international community to take care of this," Albright told reporters traveling with her.

The White House envisions very limited U.S. involvement, such as offering transportation and other logistical help, and would rely on other nations to provide any ground troops sent into East Timor.

The United Nations wants Indonesia to keep its commitment to maintain order. The world body is also reluctant to consider a security force without an invitation from Indonesia.

U.S. officials say such an intervention will have to be considered if the chaos continues and no invitation is forthcoming. And officials said the Indonesian military and police are allowing the violence to continue.

Money or military power

East Timor is the latest test of Clinton's pledge to use U.S. influence -- and sometimes military power -- to discourage ethnic and regional conflicts.

But the administration and its allies draw distinctions between civil strife on an island in southeast Asia and the Kosovo conflict in the heart of Europe.

"Just because we cannot accept what's going on in East Timor, that doesn't necessarily mean that we're the ones that charge in there," said former Indiana Rep. Lee Hamilton, now of the Woodrow Wilson Center. "I think others can probably do that better than we -- the Australians (or) the New Zealanders, for example."

Clinton is being urged to go beyond diplomatic pressure and slap Indonesia with economic sanctions.

"We give military aid to the Indonesian government, we give economic aid through international monetary organizations to Indonesia," said Sen. Russ Feingold (D-Wisconsin). "We should be prepared to pull all of that."

Both the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund are already warning Indonesia it risks losing desperately needed loans.

The United States expects the Indonesian army to "provide for the security" of the people of East Timor before any Australian-led peacekeeping force could move in, the Pentagon said Tuesday.

"Obviously, it's up to Indonesia to provide for the security of its own people in East Timor, as well as United Nations workers and other foreigners in East Timor," Pentagon spokesman said Ken Bacon.

"Both President B.J. Habibie and (Defense Minister) Gen. Wiranto have said that they will do that. We expect them to (do) it, and there are some signs that the Indonesian army is beginning to be more aggressive in protecting the U.N. workers in the capital of East Timor," Bacon said.

But a well-informed U.S. official contacted by CNN said that it was "unclear whether the (Indonesian) military is able or willing to take action against the militia" forces that are reportedly involved in the killing.

The official, who asked not to be named, said it was a "very ugly situation."

Bacon claimed there were signs that Jakarta was making an effort to restore order in East Timor.

"My understanding is that they (the government in Jakarta) have provided a battalion of forces from outside of East Timor," said Bacon. "And that they were able to turn back an assault by militia groups against the U.N. people last night."

Other U.S. officials tell CNN, however, that while there are military forces on the island of East Timor that are under the control of Jakarta, those forces have so far taken little or no action to stop the rampaging militia forces.

Bacon said that the United Nations plans to re-assess the situation.

"The U.N. is sending a team that's supposed to arrive tomorrow (Wednesday), to evaluate the situation and then return to New York, I believe, on Friday to report their findings," said Bacon. "And depending on what they report, then the U.N. will decide what to do next."

Meanwhile, three U.S. warships remain in the area of East Timor, but are not currently expected to participate in any evacuation of Westerners from the island.

"In terms of NEO (non-combatant evacuation operations), obviously if the Indonesian army performs its job then there shouldn't be need for an evacuation," Bacon said.

"If there are plans for an evacuation, they would be run by Australia, which of course is the nearest country and has taken on responsibility for conducting any sort of an evacuation that's necessary," said Bacon. "But we hope it won't be necessary."

The U.S. warships are in the region for scheduled military exercises.

Bacon also said the United States has no plans to contribute troops to a U.N. force or planes to be used in an airlift.

Correspondent John King, Producer Chris Plante and Reuters contributed to this report.