A former pro-Jakarta militia leader yesterday began serving a 10-year jail sentence in connection with the 1999 violence in East Timor, as the UN Security Council today prepared to discuss extending the mandate of a UN mission to the world's newest nation.

Eurico Guterres, former head of the Aitarak, or "Thorn" militia, is the firstIndonesian to be sent to prison over the deaths of some 1,500 people. Of the 18 people tried by a special Jakarta court, he is the only one to have had his conviction upheld on appeal.