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East Timor News Digest 5 - February 24-March 2, 2003
Evening Standard (New Zealand) - February 21, 2003
East Timor's foreign minister Jose Ramos Horta, in New Zealand
this week on a private visit, once had 10 brothers and sisters.
Now he has six. Four died in the violent and suppressive regime
which ruled East Timor for 25 years. Ian Stuart of NZPA reports.
Jose Ramos Horta's sister lay for 25 years in a remote grave at a
mountain hideout near Suai on the southern coast of East Timor.
Like some 250,000 of her country men and women, she was the
victim of an invading force which ruled East Timor with an often
brutal iron hand.
Late last year Dr Horta, who is in New Zealand as a guest of the
Public Relations Institute of New Zealand, went with what was
left of his family to the remote village and exhumed his sister
to bring her back to the capital of Dili to be buried in a proper
ceremony with their father and another brother.
She was killed in December, 1977, two years after the 1975
invasion by Indonesia and its bloody campaign to put down the
resulting independence movement. The killing continued until 1999
when East Timor voted overwhelmingly for independence.
The country had then to rely on a United Nations force, including
New Zealand soldiers, to keep the peace as pro-Indonesia
guerillas rampaged through the island, killing at will and
destroying the shacks which housed the many thousands of East
Timorese. Dr Ramos Horta said the 250,000 East Timorese who died
after the invasion by Indonesia represented close to a third of
the small country's population.
"It was the highest number, percentage of any population, of any
conflict, any time in human history even compared with the
holocaust of World War 11 and higher than the killing of
Cambodians by the Khmer Rouge."
Some families were entirely wiped out. Others had only one
survivor from 20 family members.
The cost to the country was huge, but the personal suffering of
Dr Ramos Horta and his family was almost unbearable, he said.
By 1975, his mother had all but put the emotional scars of World
War II behind her. She lost all her family except one sister
during the war when East Timor was invaded by the Japanese and
the East Timorese people quietly helped Australian soldiers fight
the occupiers.
Dr Ramos Horta said it was too much for his mother when she saw
his three brothers and sister killed in 1977. His mother, now 76,
was so devastated by the loss of her children she could not stay
in East Timor.
She moved to Australia where she remains active in the East
Timorese community. "She doesn't want to come back. She said she
had suffered enough."
Exhuming his sister's body was one of the hardest things he has
done, but Dr Ramos Horta said it was also something he had to do.
"We knew where she had been buried. The local people buried her.
When they saw her killed they knew it was my sister. They wrapped
her properly, dressed her and ever since they have kept a guard
on her grave."
Last year, as the New Zealand peacekeeping soldiers prepared to
leave East Timor after three years, Dr Ramos Horta said at least
he was able to bury his sister in a dignified and fitting
service, unlike two of his three brothers who became victims of
the invasion.
His elder brother died of neglect in a hospital in 1992 but the
other two simply vanished. "We still don't know where they are.
We don't know where they were killed, how they were killed. We
know they were killed in 1977." The family wanted to find them
and bring then back to the family plot in Dili.
For Dr Ramos Horta the struggle for independence was as much for
his sister and his brothers as for his country.
"I owed it to them, but also to everybody else because my
family's suffering is no different from so many thousands of
families in East Timor. I always believed one day Timor would be
free. It is free now."
He said in the pursuit of justice and independence, he
disciplined himself to stay focused and not to lose hope.
"If you lose hope you lose everything. You surrender." Dr Ramos
Horta said East Timor was very very touched by the support New
Zealand had provided to East Timor since 1999.
"Your great little country has contributed generously to East
Timor defence security but also to its economic recovery."
International Herald Tribune - February 24, 2003
Shepard Forman, New York -- Even as the United Nations focuses
like a laser on Iraq, it must not lose sight of its other
commitments. The UN Security Council laid the framework for East
Timor's independence nine months ago, but now the nascent state
is at risk from a UN plan to withdraw support before the East
Timorese have had time to lay the foundations of lasting security
and stability.
The United Nations, the World Bank and numerous nongovernmental
organizations have done their best to shepherd East Timor to
independence. But threats to security remain, both from civil
unrest -- as evidenced in a rampage December 4 in Dili, the
capital -- and from renegades waiting patiently across the border
for the international force to leave.
Thousands of refugees, lacking the means to continue the
agriculture that has long provided their livelihood, have
resettled in Dili, swelling its population from 60,000 to 200,000
people and creating an urban concentration of underemployed,
dispossessed and disaffected youth.
Too little has been invested in training programs for the civil
administration and for an incipient defense and police force
capable of maintaining internal order and securing its borders.
Public works, schools and housing -- totally destroyed by roving
militia bands after the East Timorese voted for independence over
integration in Indonesia -- have been only partially rebuilt.
To make matters worse, there has been little of the foreign
investment that East Timor desperately needs to jump-start and
sustain the economy and produce tax revenues for the state.
The United Nations, and especially the Security Council, has much
to be proud of in East Timor. The council and the UN's senior
leadership showed their resolve when devastating militia attacks
plunged East Timor into crisis in September 1999. By insisting
that Indonesia yield on its staunch resistance to an
international peacekeeping force, and by setting up the
transitional authority that governed the island until the East
Timorese flag was raised in May 2002, the council contained a
violent conflict and prepared the way for East Timor's
independence.
Rather than declaring its mission a success, however, and
insisting on a strict timetable for withdrawal, the Security
Council needs to carefully measure the distance East Timor still
needs to travel before it can stand entirely on its own.
In June 2002 the United Nations, with Security Council
authorization, put into effect a "successor mission plan" for a
downsized and temporary support system for the new East Timor
government. It calls, largely on French insistence, for a rapid
reduction of UN technical assistance and security personnel to
zero over a two-year period. Unfortunately, in its haste to exit,
the Security Council does not seem to be heeding its own
admonition to ensure the security and stability of the nascent
state.
The positive beginning the United Nations achieved in East Timor
could easily be squandered if the Security Council does not
complete the job it started.
Despite having spent more than $1 billion over the last three
years, the international community has insufficiently prepared
East Timor to fully exercise its sovereign authority or provide
for the welfare of its traumatized citizens.
East Timor serves as an important test case of the Security
Council's willingness to see its resolutions through to their
intended conclusion. If the Security Council does not reconsider
its scheduled formula for downsizing the UN's civilian, military
and police support group, the long-term objective of creating the
first new democratic state of the 21st century could be at
serious risk.
The East Timorese are among the world's most resilient and self-
reliant people. With the UN and the Security Council at their
side, they won their 27-year struggle for independence and have
taken the first steps toward recovery. The UN should extend its
stay, to give them the extra time and assistance they need to
build the political, economic and security institutions on which
their fledgling democracy must be founded.
The writer directs the Center on International Cooperation at New
York University and is co-editor of "Multilateralism and US
Foreign Policy."
Transition & reconstruction
Militia/boarder issues
Land/rural issues
Timor Gap
Human rights trials
Indonesia
News & issues
East Timor media monitoring
Independence struggle
Loss and grief way of life during liberation struggle
Transition & reconstruction
UN haste puts East Timor at risk
Militia/boarder issues
Timor officials blame militiamen for deadly attack
Agence France Presse - February 25, 2003
Dili -- East Timorese officials blamed anti-independence militias Tuesday for an attack that killed two people, injured four and heightened security fears in the world's newest nation.
A man aged 29 was killed on the spot in Monday's attack in the Maliana district bordering Indonesian West Timor. A 64-year-old man died in hospital Tuesday, his relatives said.
The killing came just six weeks after attackers killed five people including independence supporters in the west of the country.
Last month's killings were blamed on West Timor-based anti- independence militiamen seeking to destabilise the country.
UN and East Timorese officials have said they do not believe the Indonesian government or military chiefs are behind the infiltrations.
Ricardo Ribeiro, national security adviser to Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri, said it appeared militiamen may also have been involved in Monday's attack. "There are indications because the weapons that they were using were SKS [automatic rifles often used by the militias]," he told AFP.
East Timor deputy police chief, Julio Hornai, agreed. "Information we obtained from witnesses indicates that the attack was carried out by militia. Some of the witnesses said they knew the attackers," Hornai said.
Ribeiro said militia leaders in West Timor made a joint decision late last year to destabilise East Timor before the United Nations presence ends in 2004. He said the man who organised the infiltrators, army Master Sergeant Tome Diogo, is now thought to be in Dili and authorities are searching for him.
"In the end of 2002 there was a meeting that was made by a number of militia leaders in Atambua to go into East Timor," Ribeiro said, referring to the main West Timor border town. They have entered illegally and they are everywhere in the west. They can easily come in and out."
Another movement calling itself Colimau 2000, apparently led by disgruntled former resistance fighters, has at the same time sprung up in border regions. One of the militiamen's methods, Ribeiro said, appeared to be to infiltrate this movement.
Many UN figures have been concerned about the possibility of disgruntled militia and disaffected resistance veterans teaming up against the government of the poverty-stricken nascent state.
Brigadier General Justin Kelly, deputy commander of the UN peacekeeping force, said it was too early to say whether Monday's attackers were ex-militiamen. He said 250 to 300 UN troops were securing the area of the attack.
Last week Kelly said anti-independence militiamen had launched a "terrorist strategy" to undermine the government before the planned UN withdrawal.
The Indonesian military commander overseeing West Timor promised tighter security along the border. East Nusa Tenggara provincial military chief Colonel Muswarno Musanip, quoted by the Jakarta Post, said the military would not allow West Timor to become a base for militia activities.
Pro-Jakarta militias, armed and organised by the Indonesian military, launched a brutal campaign of intimidation before a UN-organised independence vote in East Timor in August 1999 and a revenge campaign afterwards.
An estimated 1,000 people were killed before Australian peacekeeping troops moved in and the militiamen fled across the border. East Timor finally achieved independence last May.
Jakarta Post - February 25, 2003
Yemris Fointuna and Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, Jakarta/Kuala Lumpur -- The military commander overseeing the West Timor province promised tighter security along its border with East Timor where one person died on Monday in an attack allegedly staged by pro Jakarta militia who crossed the border to West Timor.
East Nusa Tenggara military chief Col. Moeswarno Moesanip said the Indonesian military (TNI) would not allow West Timor to become a base for militia activities.
"We don't want them here and surely don't want to facilitate their activities," Moeswarno said, adding "we will tighten security." He said he had at his disposal two battalions, which would amount to 2,000 soldiers.
The East Timor government planned to hold an emergency meeting after an armed group attacked a bus in a rural area southeast of the capital Dili on Monday, AFP reported quoting the Lusa news agency.
At least one died and three people sustained injuries. The bus, carrying at least 10 passengers, was ambushed near the town of Ribeira de Loes.
The attack came just a day after deputy commander of the United Nations peace keeping force, Brig. Gen. Justin Kelly said pro- Indonesia militias had launched a "terrorist strategy" to destabilize East Timor.
Last month five civilians were killed in an attack in East Timor, which eyewitnesses said was carried out by pro-Indonesia militias.
The militias, backed by members of the Indonesian military, burnt destroyed the country and killed hundreds of East Timorese when the population overwhelmingly voted for independence in a UN sponsored poll in 1999.
Thousands were forced to flee to West Timor, most of whom returned, but many militia members remain in West Timor, as some fear prosecution if they return. Indonesia has made no effort to bring to justice the thousands of militia fighters, even though some of the leaders have been tried in a human rights trial.
Kelly is now warning of infiltration from a group of militia members, launching attacks from across the border in Indonesia.
But East Timor stopped short of accusing the Indonesian government of backing the militias. The Australian government, which has UN peacekeepers in East Timor, dismissed suspicion that TNI was supporting the militias.
Indonesian Minister of Foreign Affairs Hassan Wirayuda responded with frustration to the latest attack and accusations. "I am tired of dealing with similar accusations over and over again," Hassan said in Kuala Lumpur.
He said he recently met his East Timor counterpart Jose Ramos Horta who said nothing about the militia problems. Hassan said the attacks were simply riots among the East Timorese suffering from years of economic problems.
Unemployment remains widespread and the country continues to rely on foreign aid three and a half years since it won the independence vote. "Without evidence and facts, accusations of militias operating in West Timor are simply false," he said.
He said that among the around 220,000 refugees who returned to East Timor, 8,000 were former militia members. "If these people now stir problems in East Timor, that's their problem," he said.
Agence France Presse - February 24, 2003
Dili -- Unidentified gunmen killed one person and seriously injured two pregnant women in an attack Monday on a minibus in East Timor, officials said.
The group fled after the attack at 12:45 pm near the village of Aidabaleten in Maliana district, said Deputy Defence and Security Minister Roque Rodrigues. He gave no further details.
Maliana is on the border with Indonesian West Timor, where many pro-Jakarta militiamen have sheltered since fleeing East Timor in September 1999.
A security source said the 10-strong group first fired on a truck, but the driver escaped. The attackers then stopped a minibus, boarded and started firing, killing one and injuring several others, at least three severely.
United Nations peacekeeping troops deployed a quick reaction force to search for the attackers. Checkpoints were set up and a helicopter called in. UN police and East Timorese police also rushed to the scene.
About 12-15 attackers killed five people in two villages January 4, some 35 kilometres from the border with West Timor.
Brigadier General Justin Kelly, deputy commander of the UN peacekeeping force in East Timor, told AFP last week that anti- independence militiamen had launched a "terrorist strategy" to undermine East Timor's government before the planned UN withdrawal from the country next year.
Kelly said last month's killing of the five former pro- independence campaigners pointed to a new militia threat from West Timor.
A group of men recently arrested in Liquica claimed they were among several groups, including those responsible for the killings in January, that had been sent over the border from West Timor in December, Kelly said.
They named their sponsor as Master Sergeant Tome Diogo, an East Timorese working for the Indonesian military in the border town of Atambua. The men said they were among some 300 trained for a guerrilla campaign against former pro-independence activists and local chieftains.
Kelly said he thought it was more likely Diogo was working for other East Timorese rather than the Indonesian army. East Timorese leaders have also said they do not believe Jakarta had any hand in the incursions.
Agence France Presse - February 24, 2003
Dili -- Anti-independence militias have launched a "terrorist strategy" to undermine Timor Leste's government before the planned United Nations withdrawal from the country next year, a top UN peacekeeper said.
Brigadier-General Justin Kelly, deputy commander of the UN peacekeeping force in the world's newest nation, said the killing of five former pro-independence campaigners in a mountain region last month pointed to a new militia threat from Indonesian West Timor.
He said a group of men recently arrested in the town of Liquica claimed that they and another group which carried out those killings were sent into Timor Leste in December from West Timor, along with five other groups.
They named their sponsor as Master Sergeant Tome Diogo, a Timor Leste national working for the Indonesian military in the border town of Atambua. The men said they were among some 300 trained for a guerilla campaign against former pro-independence activists and Suco chiefs, the influential local chieftains.
Brig-Gen Kelly called this a "classical terrorist strategy of trying to separate the people from the government", comparing it to the past campaigns of the Vietcong in Vietnam or the communists in Malaya in the 1950s.
"We more or less expected this would happen but it has happened earlier than we thought," he said. However, he said he thought it was more likely Diogo was working for other Timor Leste nationals in this matter rather than the Indonesian army. Timor Leste leaders have also said they do not believe Jakarta had any hand in the incursions.
Pro-Jakarta militias organised by elements of the Indonesian army organised a brutal intimidation campaign before Timor Leste's August 1999 vote to break away from Jakarta and a revenge campaign afterwards.
The militias fled across the border to West Timor before peacekeeping troops arrived. An estimated 3,000 former militiamen are still there.
Many of the militia leaders come from influential Timor Leste families and some are wealthy. But they face legal action for crimes committed in 1999 if they return home.
The infiltration, coming on top of riots late last year linked to internal dissent, could herald a dangerously enlarged role for Timor Leste's military, some analysts say.
| Land/rural issues |
Radio Australia - February 28, 2003
The drought may be finally breaking in Australia, but in East Timor continuing drought is causing severe problems. A number of children have already died and the current weather conditions are hampering the recovery effort in several parts of the country.
Transcript:
Parker: Suai, the capital of Cova Lima District on the south-west border between East and West Timor is enduring a long path to independence. In 1999, two days after the announcement that almost 80 percent of East Timorese had voted in favour of independence local militia with Indonesian army and police attacked hundreds of villagers seeking refuge in the Our Lady Fatima Church.
At least 50 people were killed with some eye witnesses reporting more than 200 dead. Now, more than 2 years later Suai is again suffering casualities, this time at the hands of mother nature.
Sheryl Hazel, a volunteer funded by a Melbourne City Council and managed by Australian Volunteers International has been working as an international advisor for a new Suai community committee since late last year. She has seen first hand the effects of the drought.
Hazel: People haven't got food and conversations with the Health Department here indicated that a number of children have died the last couple of weeks of malnutrition, even more children have had to have been taken up to Dili for more intensive care
Parker: Mr Agio Perera, President Xanana Gusmao's Chief of Staff says the government is aware of the problem.
Perera: Yes, in Suai, Cova Lima district, especially at the South Coast, dry arid areas, a drought has been registered, and because there hasn't been any rain since May last year. As a result, the population has been eating, whatever they can collect in nature, and especially they've been taking advantage of the existing sago ... extracted from palm trees. But the sago is not good for children
Parker: While weather has been one of the contributing factors, Sheryl Hazel believes the legacy of the post-ballot violence has deepened the effects of the drought.
Hazel: The absolute destruction of this country in 1999 has left people without a store of resources ... without a surplus of seed that they might fall back on, so what's happened is that people planted their seed, expected to get more seed when they harvest their crop but of course the crop haven't come to fruit and they have no more seed to plant
Parker: As a newly independent nation, the East Timorese government is keen to solve the situation in Suai without direct foreign aid. The Ministry of Internal Administration has set up a special food reserve with the Office of the President, delivering food supplies to Suai. The new adminstration is aware of the difficulty in responding quickly to this kind of situation but according to Mr Perera the government hopes community commitees like those in Suai will improve drought relief management.
Perera: It is very difficult, for instance for the next three months, these areas will suffer alot but if we take the right measures after three months they can collect some food. In the meantime, they need this emergency response, that needs to be well coordinated to help them overcome these barriers that we hope are temporary. But the structural problems like capacity to produce tractors availability, buffaloes, and manpower need to be resolved so that these situations don't happen again.
| Timor Gap |
Sydney Morning Herald - February 28, 2003
Mark Baker, Singapore -- East Timor has warned that hundreds of millions of dollars in revenues vital for the country's development could be lost because of the Australian Government's refusal to ratify a treaty on joint development of oil and gas reserves in the Timor Sea.
Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri yesterday accused the Howard Government of stalling ratification of the $5 billion Bayu-Undan project in an attempt to force the Timorese to accept a smaller share of royalties for the neighbouring Sunrise fields, estimated to hold reserves at least twice as large.
Dr Alkatiri told The Sydney Morning Herald that unless the Timor Gap treaty were approved by Federal Parliament by March 11, a contract deadline for project operators Conaco-Phillips, the Japanese companies which have agreed to buy the entire output of Bayu-Undan might quit the deal.
"The Australians are trying to force us to give up on our claims on Sunrise. Their tactics are very clear," Dr Alkatiri said. "Australia knows that these revenues are vital for us. I am very surprised by their attitude. I never thought a democratic country like Australia would play this kind of role with a poor neighbour."
A spokesman for Resources Minister Ian Macfarlane yesterday confirmed that "priority' was being given to concluding the Sunrise negotiations, but said the treaty could still be ratified in the near future. "Our priority is now finalising the agreement on Sunrise. The treaty is in the queue to go to the House. Both countries are aware of the deadlines, but deadlines have to be moved sometimes," he said.
But Timorese officials said the Parliament would sit for four days next week then adjourn to March 18 and they had been told the treaty legislation would not be dealt with before then.
While Australia had proposed that East Timor receive 90 per cent of revenues from the 20 per cent of the Sunrise field within the Timor Gap treaty zone -- the same sharing formula for Bayu-Undan -- the Federal Government is insisting all reserves outside the zone belong to Australia.
The Timorese believe they are entitled to at least half of the royalties from the entire Sunrise field which lies much closer to the Timorese coast than to mainland Australia, but is not covered by an agreed maritime boundary.
Dr Alkatiri said Australia's failure to implement the treaty -- which Prime Minister John Howard promised to ratify promptly when he attended independence celebrations last May -- could wreck a project expected to bring at least $67 million in royalties in the first year.
"The Japanese will seek a better price or they may go elsewhere to find a more secure supplier," Dr Alkatiri said. "If Australia wants to retain its credibility and honour, this treaty must be ratified within the next week. Is Australia governed by the rule of law or not?"
Conaco-Phillips regional manager Blair Murphy said there was a danger that the company's deal with Tokyo Gas and Tokyo Electric could fall apart unless the March 11 deadline for approval of the project was met. "We're hopeful that it will be ratified in time, but we are taking things day by day."
The dispute over the projects has raised serious tensions in relations between Canberra and Dili in recent months. Timorese officials said there was an angry outburst by Foreign Minister Alexander Downer during a meeting in Dili on November 27 with Dr Alkatiri and senior Timorese negotiators.
A source who was present at the meeting said Mr Downer had thumped the table and abused Dr Alkatiri and his officials for insisting that they would not give up potential resources claims before a formal maritime boundary is agreed between the countries.
| Human rights trials |
Jakarta Post - March 1, 2003
Wahyoe Boediwardhana, Denpasar -- East Timor President Xanana Gusmao voiced disappointment over the court's issuance of dozens of indictments of senior Indonesian officials for serious crimes committed in the territory in 1999, fearing that it could undermine ongoing reconciliation between the two countries.
He, however, admitted that he could not legally intervene against the independent legal system in his country.
"I will meet this afternoon [on Friday] with the Prime Minister and the Parliament Speaker. I can only say that a [prosecutorial] decision has been made, I can't do much about it," Gusmao conceded. He said his government could not interfere with the decision, however he said he was surprised that he was not informed earlier about it. "I have a right to state my views on that decision."
Prosecutors in East Timor indicted on Friday another 50 Indonesians, including former East Timor police chief Brig. Gen. Timboel Silaen and thee ex-militia leaders, for serious crimes committed during and after the 1999 independence ballot.
Earlier they indicted former Indonesian military chief Gen. (ret) Wiranto and seven other senior officials, for similar crimes including murder, rape and mass deportation.
A confused Gusmao expressed surprise and regret that the decision was made before he returned from a trip where he was meeting with Indonesian leaders.
"The chief prosecutor should have asked for my opinion first. That didn't happen. That's a mistake," he told reporters in Bali on his way back from the Non-Alignment Movement (NAM) summit in Kuala Lumpur.
Xanana said he met on Monday President Megawati Soekarnoputri and Foreign Minister Hassan Wirayuda without knowing prosecutors in Dili were about to indict Indonesia's top senior officers. "I was very shocked, because we had just spoken to Ibu Megawati about a lot of things and suddenly the news came out," he said.
Minister Hassan met East Timor Ambassador Arlindo Marcel on Thursday morning for an explanation over the indictment. Quoting the ambassador, Hassan said the East Timor government had not made the decision on the indictment and that it was just a recommendation.
"They [East Timor] seem to be divided over the issue," explained the spokesman from Indonesia's foreign ministry, Marty Natalegawa, when asked about the latest indictments.
He said the Indonesian government would stick to the position of the East Timor government as outlined by its ambassador.
But Gusmao did say that the East Timor prosecutors with the UN- mandated court, could not force Indonesian citizens to face trial in East Timor.
Indonesia and East Timor do not have an extradition agreement. The United Nations' Serious Crimes Unit, now a section of the East Timor prosecutors' office in the capital city of Dili, filed the indictment against 50 people, including former police chief Timbul Silaen, and former pro Indonesia militia chief Eurico Guterres, AFP reported.
Aside from Wiranto, Maj. Gen. Zacky Anwar Makarim, Lt. Gen. (ret) Kiki Syahnakri, Maj. Gen. Adam Rachmat Damiri Brig. Gen. Suhartono Suratman, and Brig. Gen. Mohammad Noer Muis were also reportedly indicted on Tuesday.
Pro Indonesia militias, allegedly backed by the Indonesian military went on a violent rampage in Dili, after East Timorese voted overwhelmingly for independence in a UN backed ballot in 1999. Thousands died and over a hundred thousand took refuge or were forcibly deported to West Timor.
Indonesia set up its own human rights court but acquitted virtually all senior military officers indicted, including the former police chief Timbul. Wiranto escaped indictment.
Activists said the indictment from East Timor came in response to Indonesia's failure to prosecute the alleged right abusers.
Analysts have blamed the failure on fear of a backlash from the military, citing its deep rooted influence among Indonesia's political elite.
Pressurizing the military could stir a diplomatic rift with East Timor, and Xanana said the indictment was not in his country's national interest.
Straits Times - March 1, 2003
Dili -- Timor Leste prosecutors charged more than 50 people, including a former police chief and a militia boss, with crimes against humanity yesterday over violence surrounding a 1999 vote for independence from Indonesia.
Among those indicted, according to a statement from the Serious Crimes Unit in Timor Leste, formerly called East Timor, were the former Indonesian chief of police for East Timor, Timbul Silaen, and a former leader of pro-Jakarta militias, Eurico Guterres.
They were charged with "counts of crimes against humanity including murder, enforced disappearance, inhumane acts and deportation". Most of the others charged in the indictments were members of the militias.
The indictments were strongly criticised by Timor Leste's independence hero and President, Mr Xanana Gusmao, yesterday. He said peace, stability and progress "greatly depend on the relationship we will forge with the Republic of Indonesia" and such indictments were not in the national interest.
The prosecutors in the Serious Crimes Unit are funded by the United Nations but work under the authority of the new nation. Earlier this week, the unit had filed charges against eight other people, including a former Indonesian armed forces chief, General Wiranto, and a former governor.
Indonesia has so far ruled out sending any of its former officials to Timor Leste to stand trial.
Guterres, former chief of the feared Aitarak militia, was sentenced in November by an Indonesian human rights court to 10 years in jail on similar charges. He is appealing against the conviction. Silaen was also tried in Indonesia but acquitted.
The Indonesian human rights court has delivered verdicts in the cases of 15 out of 18 suspects charged with human rights violations in Timor Leste, and has handed down convictions in four of the cases.
In the latest development in the Indonesian hearings, a court yesterday postponed for two weeks a verdict on Brigadier-General Noer Moeis, who commanded Indonesian troops at the time of the August 30, 1999, ballot in which East Timor's citizens voted overwhelmingly to end Jakarta's 24-year rule.
So far, the Serious Crimes Unit has filed 58 indictments charging a total of 225 people. None of the Indonesians has been handed over.
Pro-Jakarta local militias launched a savage intimidation campaign against East Timorese before their August 1999 vote for independence, and a campaign of revenge and forced deportation afterwards.
The widely criticised Indonesian rights court has accused defendants only of failing to prevent violence. Prosecutors in Dili say top Indonesian officials actually formed, funded and directed the militias.
Agence France Presse - February 26, 2003
The international rights group Human Rights Watch called on Indonesia to turn over for trial its officials accused of organizing atrocities committed in East Timor in 1999.
In a statement released here, Human Rights Watch urged Jakarta to extradite the officials for trial in the East Timor capital Dili.
United Nations prosecutors in East Timor said Tuesday they had indicted Indonesia's former defence minister and military chief, Wiranto, for crimes against humanity in the territory in 1999.
The Serious Crimes Unit said it had indicted Wiranto, six other senior officers and the then-governor for murder, deportation and persecution of independence supporters before and after East Timorese voted in August that year to break away from Indonesia. The indictment covers crimes committed before and after East Timor's referendum on independence in August 1999.
"This is the first genuine attempt to hold senior officials accountable for the organized violence in 1999," said Brad Adams, executive director of the Asia Division at Human Rights Watch.
"The big test now will be whether Indonesia is prepared to arrest those indictees in Indonesia and send them to Dili for trial," he said. "This will require a fundamental change in Indonesia's attitude towards justice for East Timor."
In September 1999, the Indonesian military and pro-Jakarta Timorese militias went on a rampage of murder, arson and forced expulsion after the people of East Timor voted for independence in a United Nations administered referendum.
An estimated 1,000 to 2,000 East Timorese civilians were killed in the months before, and days immediately after, the voting, and some 500,000 people were forced from their homes or fled to seek refuge.
Indonesian Foreign Minister Hassan Wirayuda indicated Jakarta would ignore the UN indictments.
Reuters - February 28, 2003
Dili -- East Timor prosecutors charged more than 50 people on Friday, including a former police chief and a militia boss, with crimes against humanity over violence surrounding a 1999 vote for independence from Indonesia.
Earlier this week, charges were filed against eight other people, including a former Indonesian armed forces chief, General Wiranto, and a former governor of East Timor.
But East Timor President Xanana Gusmao, who spent years fighting a guerrilla war against Indonesian rule, questioned the indictments and said it was essential for his country to have good relations with Indonesia. "I still believe the core of this process is for us to keep a good relationship with Indonesia, and more dialogue is necessary, especially for sensitive matters such as this one," Gusmao said in a statement on Friday, referring to the indictments.
He said he saw the legal process, as it was being handled, as not in East Timor's national interest, and suggested the international community should be more involved in determining how human rights cases were handled.
He said he regretted the indictments had not been postponed until he had returned to East Timor from a summit in Malaysia. "Although I respect the decision made, I do not accept and approve the methods adopted in this process," he said.
Among the latest group of people charged, according to a statement from East Timor's serious crimes unit, were a former Indonesian chief of police for East Timor, Timbul Silaen, and a former leader of pro-Jakarta militias, Eurico Guterres.
They were charged "with counts of crimes against humanity including murder, enforced disappearance, inhumane acts and deportation". Most of the others charged in the latest indictments were members of the militias.
The crimes unit has now filed 58 indictments charging a total of 225 people for crimes ranging from rape and torture to murder.
The unit said most of those indicted on Friday were believed to be in Indonesia. Indonesia has so far ruled out sending any of its former officials to East Timor to stand trial.
Gross violations
Former militia boss Guterres was sentenced by an Indonesian human rights court in November to 10 years in jail for "gross rights violations and crimes against humanity". He is appealing against the conviction. Former police chief Silaen was also tried in Indonesia and acquitted.
Indonesian human rights courts have delivered verdicts in the cases of 15 out of 18 suspects charged over alleged human rights violations in East Timor, and has handed down convictions in four of the trials.
In the latest development in Indonesia, a court on Friday postponed for two weeks a verdict in the case of Brigadier- General Noer Moeis, who commanded Indonesian troops in East Timor at the time of the August 30, 1999, ballot in which its citizens voted overwhelmingly to end Jakarta's 24-year rule.
The small number of convictions in Indonesia, the relatively light sentences for those found guilty and the failure to charge Wiranto have triggered criticism from rights groups that Indonesia is being soft on the violence in which the United Nations estimates more than 1,000 people were killed.
Most of the deaths were blamed on pro-Jakarta militias acting with military backing. Many militia members fled to Indonesia after UN peacekeeping forces entered East Timor in late 1999.
Critics say Wiranto as top commander was responsible for what happened. He has said he was innocent and acted as a peacemaker.
Under East Timorese law those charged cannot be tried in absentia. Indonesia argues that its human rights courts should handle the cases of Indonesian nationals.
Jakarta Post - February 27, 2003
Nug Katjasungkana, Contributor, Dili -- On Tuesday, the Dili- based Office of the Prosecutor General of Timor Leste issued an indictment of former military commander Gen. (ret) Wiranto and six other officers who served in East Timor, as well as former governor Abilio Jose Osorio Soares, of crimes against humanity. The following are excerpts of an interview with the Prosecutor of the Serious Crimes Unit, Stuart Alford.
Question: What evidence do you have of the link between the Indonesian Military (TNI) and the militia in East Timor in 1999?
Answer: Militias were part of TNI's ability to commit violent acts. The evidence we have collected shows quite clearly that TNI was in control, in effective control, over the militia groups. That evidence comes from witness statements -- 1,500 witness statements -- which support the conclusions we've reached.
We believe evidence from witnesses who were here -- some from people here, the militia, TNI personnel, civilian authorities -- leads to the conclusions in the indictment. Nothing in the indictment is speculative ... We based the charges on the evidence we have collected and can prove them in court against the men charged.
We have identified seven of the eight men -- except Wiranto -- as playing a part in forming and establishing the militia by the issuing of instructions -- particularly to subordinate TNI officers -- giving money for weapons, or by their verbal support and cooperation which, given the intent of the militia groups, clearly demonstrate that the support of the TNI hierarchy was important -- they knew the militia could commit these crimes without being punished. The evidence is clear they were not punished.
How does Wiranto's responsibility differ from the others'?
Wiranto is the only man in this indictment against whom we don't have evidence of personal participation, by which I mean we don't have evidence of the things he said or orders he gave, which directly led to the establishment of militias.
But throughout the whole period, he had command authority over all of the men charged, apart from Soares, and all TNI personnel who were here in 1999.
During that period, it is clear that not only men in command, but all ranks and levels of TNI soldiers, were involved in crimes. Some of these are the men at the end of the chain of command using knives and weapons to kill people, but nonetheless these were men under Wiranto's command.
It goes further: Wiranto had command responsibility, but because of the relationship between TNI and the militia groups, he ultimately had control over militia groups as well, because the militia groups were controlled by TNI subordinates.
Wiranto was repeatedly told by the press, members of the international community, and East Timorese leaders that TNI soldiers and militia groups were committing crimes throughout East Timor.
We use the long and growing history of command responsibility -- arguments developed at trials in the Hague, in Rwanda, after World War II in Japan and the Nuremberg trials in Germany. This is one in a long line of cases, the most recent of which is the (Slobodan) Milosevic trial in the Hague (on war crimes in Bosnia).
Cooperation from Indonesia would be needed to take these people to court. What if Indonesia does not want to deliver them to Timor Leste?
We believe that the process in East Timor against these eight men is getting as far as we can take it. We have investigated, analyzed the evidence, filed the indictment with the Dili District Court and arrest warrants are in process and will be issued soon. Once obtained, they will be sent to the Attorney General in Indonesia, and also lodged and filed with Interpol, which means that any other Interpol country has the obligation to enforce the arrest warrants.
We believe it will require something outside of East Timor to bring these men to court in East Timor -- Interpol or international or diplomatic pressure, or pressure from organizations and individual countries to see that something is done.
Jakarta Post - February 27, 2003
The failure of Indonesia's rights tribunal to bow to international demands for the prosecution of the alleged perpetrators of human rights abuses in East Timor has prompted the indictment of several high-ranking officers, including former military chief Gen. (ret) Wiranto, observers said.
Munir, a cofounder of the National Commission for Missing Person and Victims of Violence, said East Timor's indictment of the seven military generals and the then East Timor governor was the result of the dissatisfaction with Indonesia's failure to bring to justice all those responsible for crimes against humanity before and after the August 1999 UN-sponsored referendum in the former Indonesian province.
He said the ad hoc rights tribunal set up by Indonesia to try those accused of abuses in East Timor should have handed down prison terms of at least 10 years for the perpetrators, as mandated by Law No. 26/2000 on ad hoc human rights tribunals.
Hikmahanto Juwana, an international law expert from the University of Indonesia, said the indictment meant the seven officers and the former governor faced the possibility of arrest and extradition to East Timor should they travel outside of Indonesia.
"Wiranto and the other seven men could be arrested by Interpol if they travel overseas. They would then face extradition to East Timor if the country where they were arrested had an extradition agreement with the former Indonesian territory," Hikmahanto said.
Both Hikmahanto and Munir said the indictment did not violate the principle of nebis en idem, or double jeopardy, should "East Timor consider the ongoing trials in Jakarta to be unwilling and unable to bring these perpetrators to justice".
In Kuala Lumpur, President Megawati Soekarnoputri said Indonesia was not obliged to send Wiranto to East Timor because the countries did not have an extradition treaty.
"We have to be very careful in responding to such demands. So far the government has yet to receive any official request from them [East Timor]," the President said on Wednesday during a press conference in Malaysia, where she was attending the recently concluded Non-Aligned Movement summit.
"We also have to see whether such a request is legally possible as we do not have any arrangements to send our citizens to stand trial there [in East Timor]," the President said.
Megawati said she met with East Timor's President Xanana Gusmao on the sidelines of the summit and "he did not mention anything about any request to arrest Indonesian officials. We only discussed how we could improve our relations as neighbors".
Those indicted besides Wiranto were Maj. Gen. Zacky Anwar Makarim, Maj. Gen. Kiki Syahnakri, Maj. Gen. Adam Rachmat Damiri, Col. Suhartono Suratman, Col. Mohammad Noer Muis, Lt. Col. Yayat Sudrajat and former governor Abilio Jose Osorio Soares.
Late on Wednesday, Wiranto held a press conference to pronounce his innocence and say he did everything in his power to prevent the violence in East Timor before, during and after the 1999 ballot by promoting reconciliation between pro-Jakarta and proindependence groups.
Radio Australia - February 25, 2003
The United Nations Serious Crimes Unit has indicted General Wiranto, the former governor of East Timor, Abilio Soares and six other senior military officers, for murder and persecution in the lead-up to East Timor's independence in 1999. But with the Indonesian Government unlikely to hand any of the men over for trial, will justice ever be done?
Presenter/Interviewer: Kanaha Sabapathy
Speakers: Asmara Nababan, former secretary general of the Human Rights Commission of Indonesia; Hassan Wirajuda, Indonesia's foreign minister; Stuart Alford, the UN prosecutor
Wirajuda: The court that deals with the past human rights abuses in East Timor is basically a national process. It's not at all an international tribunal. Yes they are assisted by the UN mission in East Timor, but they don't have international jurisdiction and for that matter legally they don't have the capacity to reach non-East Timorese.
Sabapathy: Indonesia's Foreign Minister, Hassan Wirajuda at a press conference in Kuala Lumpur effectively stating that Jakarta would ignore the UN indictment. This response is not unusual. Earlier indictments of some 170 people, including Indonesian troops and militiamen in the UN case of crimes against humanity did not materialise in trial with Jakarta refusing to handover the men. In fact so ineffective has been the UN serious crime unit in getting the perpetrators of murder and persecution to trial, that Asmara Nababan, the former secretary-general of the Human Rights Commission of Indonesia sees its indictments as mere gestures.
Nababan: This is a challenge actually and questioned by many human rights activities in Indonesia, as well as in East Timor how UN are able to materialise their indictments. It is a big question. People feel that special units crimes only give a political gesture, not really want to prosecute the case.
Sabapathy: The violence that followed East Timor's referendum on independence left some 1,000 people dead and another 20,000 forcibly deported to Indonesian West Timor. The UN Serious Crimes Unit maintains that the pro-Jakarta milita groups that waged a campaign of terror were funded, aided and abetted by the Indonesian armed forces or TNI.
UN prosecutor, Stuart Alford says as the then head of the TNI, General Wiranto has ultimate responsibility for the violence, but admits that that general may never go to trial.
Alford: I think we accept now that it's going to require something outside of East Timor from if I can say the wider international community to see any movements and any progress in bringing these men before a court.
Sabapathy: But in an international environment consumed by the uncertainty of a looming war over Iraq, what chance of it forcing the hand of Jakarta? Mr Nababan believes it's still up to the United Nations to push Indonesia to respect the UN court proceedings and he believes it's time for it to call upon the Security Council to set up an international court on East Timor.
Nababan: As far as I know, that the recommendation of internationals inquiry for East Timor set up by the general- secretary in '99, it's clearly recommended that the Security Council to establish international court for East Timor Sabapathy: And nothing has come out of that?
Nababan: Nothing has come out of that, but I think this is the moment for the general secretary to put that again in the Security Council agenda.
Sydney Morning Herald - February 26, 2003
Jill Jolliffe, Darwin and Tom Allard, Canberra -- United Nations prosecutors have charged the former Indonesian defence chief General Wiranto with crimes against humanity for his role in the violence surrounding East Timor's 1999 referendum on independence.
Five other officers have also been accused, along with ex- governor Abilio Osorio Soares.
Stuart Alford of Dili's Serious Crimes Unit said arrest warrants for murder, deportation and persecution as crimes against humanity will be forwarded to the Indonesian Government and to Interpol. However, Jakarta has refused to extradite those accused, so they are unlikely to face trial unless they leave the country.
"The evidence against General Wiranto is supported by over 1500 witness statements," Mr Alford said. "He made frequent visits to East Timor at the time of the violence, and met with key figures on the ground whose responsibility was to stop crime and punish the wrongdoers. Instead, most were later promoted."
Officers charged with Wiranto, who served as a soldier in East Timor in the early years of Indonesia's occupation, are major- generals Zacky Anwar Makarim, Kiki Syahnakri and Adam Rachmat Damiri, colonels Tono Suratman and Mohammad Noer Muis, and Lieutenant-Colonel Yayat Sudrajat.
Under the UN's two-track system of war crimes prosecutions, some of the accused have already been tried by Indonesia's special court on East Timor.
Damiri, ex-regional military commander, and Suratman, former East Timor commander, are awaiting verdicts, while Sudrajat was cleared of involvement in the April 1999 massacre of villagers in Liquica church. Soares is free on bail pending an appeal against a four-year sentence over massacres in Dili.
The indictment lists 280 murders and 10 major attacks before and after the referendum on August 30, 1999.
The Serious Crimes Unit has been hamstrung by Jakarta's refusal to extradite those accused. Under the UN system, they cannot be tried in absentia.
However, an Interpol warrant will prevent General Wiranto and his co-accused from travelling abroad without fear of arrest.
Prosecutions have also been limited by the paralysis of East Timor's courts and the divided views of local politicians towards war crimes trials. The Prime Minister, Mari Alkatiri, supports them, while President Xanana Gusmao is opposed.
In another development, Mr Alkatiri has described new border attacks as a deliberate action by militiamen to create instability.
One man was killed and four people injured when a group of masked men fired on a bus on Monday around 20 kilometres from the West Timor border. Australian and Portuguese troops are hunting the attackers.
The Federal Government has warned Australians in East Timor to exhibit "extreme caution". Travel advice issued yesterday said: "Threats against Australians ... in East Timor are high."
The al-Qaeda leader, Osama bin Laden, has identified Australia's role in East Timor as evidence it is an enemy of Islam.
Jakarta Post - February 25, 2003
Jakarta -- Foreign Minister Hassan Wirajuda said Tuesday Indonesia would ignore UN indictments of former armed forces chief Gen.(ret) Wiranto along with six other generals for crimes against humanity during East Timor's bloody independence vote in 1999, AP reported.
"He is a free man ... Why take action?" Hassan said on Tuesday in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Hassan said the government would "simply ignore" the indictments, and insisted there was no need to take action against Wiranto. "Who gave [the UN] the mandate to indict Indonesians, under what basis, what authority?" he asked.
The response came a few hours after UN prosecutors said in a statement that the seven military officials and a former governor of East Timor have been indicted with "crimes against humanity for murder, deportation and persecution."
Topping the list of indictments was Wiranto, who has long been named as the man most responsible for the bloodletting that swept the former Indonesianterritory when its citizens voted for independence in the UN-sponsored referendum.
The six others are Maj. Gen. Zacky Anwar Makarim, Maj. Gen. (ret)Kiki Syahnakri, Maj. Gen. Adam Rachmat Damiri, Brig. Gen. Suhartono Suratman, Brig. Gen. Noer Muis, Lt. Col. Yayat Sudrajat and former governor Abilio Soares.
Tuesday's indictment accuses the men of involvement in 280 killings in 10 separate attacks.
Jakarta Post - February 25, 2003
Jakarta -- The United Nations on Tuesday indictedthe former armed forces chief Gen. (ret) Wiranto, along with six other senior generals and East Timor's ex-governor for crimes againsthumanity during the territory's bloody independence vote in 1999, AP reported.
"The accused have all been charged with crimes against humanity for murder, deportation and persecution," the United Nations said in a statement issued in the East Timorese capital of Dili.
The statement said the alleged crimes "were all undertaken as part of a widespread or systematic attack directed against the civilian population of East Timor and specifically targeted those who were believed to be supporters of independence for East Timor."
Topping the list of indictments is Wiranto, who has long been named as the man most responsible for the bloodletting that swept the former Indonesianterritory when its citizens voted for independence in a 1999 UN-sponsored referendum. Rights groups have long called for Wiranto to be held accountable.
Along with Wiranto, those indicted are Maj. Gen. Zacky Anwar Makarim, Maj. Gen. Kiki Syahnakri, Maj. Gen. Adam Rachmat Damiri, Brig. Gen. Suhartono Suratman, Brig. Gen. Noer Muis, Lt. Col. Yayat Sudrajat and former governor Abilio Soares.
Lawyers for the men, all of whom are believed to be in Indonesia, said they had yet to receive the indictment and declined to comment on its contents. Several of those indicted Monday are among 18 military and police officials already facing trail in Jakarta for their alleged involvement in the violence.
| Indonesia |
Agence France Presse - February 25, 2003
Dili -- Some 200 East Timorese staged a rally in the new nation's capital Dili on Tuesday to demand compensation for their past services to former ruler Indonesia.
The rally was held outside the parliament office and was continuing past midday amid tight security by some 150 United Nations policemen and East Timor police. Some 50 Portuguese UN peacekeeping troops were also guarding the protest.
The protesters, most of whom were public servants during Indonesian rule, want compensation for their services before East Timor broke away in 1999. They met Sukihiro Hasegawa, a representative of the UN Mission in Support of East Timor, and conveyed their demands to him.
Protesters also called for their demands to be conveyed to the Indonesian embassy in Dili but no rallies were planned outside the mission.
In a statement the protesters denounced what they said was a warning from Prime Minister not to go ahead with the rally. "We just want to fight for our rights," said one banner.
East Timor, still heavily dependent on international aid, was Asia's poorest nation when it became independent last May after 31 months of UN stewardship.
| News & issues |
Associated Press - February 22, 2003
Kuala Lumpur -- Saying the US government deserves more credit for its Iraq policy, East Timor's Foreign Minister Jose Ramos Horta on Saturday criticized what he called "illogical anti- Americanism" fueled by fears of a US-led attack on Baghdad.
Nobel Peace laureate Horta made his comments ahead of a two-day summit of the 114-nation Non-Aligned Movement starting Monday, when his country and one other are to formally join the bloc of mostly developing nations. The other new member is St. Vincent and the Grenadines.
Many member nations have vigorously assailed US President George W. Bush's plans to disarm Iraq by force if necessary. But Horta said Bush's stance has persuaded Baghdad to show more cooperation with UN demands that it destroy any of its weapons of mass destruction.
"If President Bush had not threatened to go to war in a credible manner by building forces in the region, would Saddam Hussein have invited the weapons inspectors back?" Horta told reporters.
"Did he invite them back because of the charming French attitude or because of the German pacifist attitude, or because he knows that George W. Bush means business?" he said, referring to France and Germany's refusal to endorse a military assault on Iraq.
Millions of people participated in anti-war demonstrations worldwide last weekend and flayed the US for its hawkish stance toward Iraq, which it accuses of having banned weapons of mass destruction -- something Iraq has denied.
Horta, however, said he questioned whether there was "enough reason to go to war" even if Saddam was found to haven't fully complied with UN Security Council resolutions. "I argue for the US as a superpower in the world ... to be more patient," he said.
Foreign ministers of the Non-Aligned Movement on Saturday endorsed the memberships of East Timor and former U.K. colony St. Vincent and the Grenadines. The two countries will formally boost the movement's members to 116 on Monday.
East Timor was a Portuguese colony until Indonesia took it over in 1975. Its people voted for independence in an August 1999 referendum.
| East Timor media monitoring |
UNMISET - February 27, 2003
MP Josi Manuel Fernandes said the shows that the UN does not have the capacity to handle the security in TL, reported Suara Timor Lorosae. According to the newspaper he said the security in 12 districts is still under UNMISET but somehow "PKF have not stopped the militia's infiltration into Timor-Leste". He added that PKF must explain to residents where the attacks eventuate about the present security. But MP, Antonio Ximenes said the group which attack the minibus in Atabae does not belong to Kolimau 2000. He said individuals are using Kolimau's name as a cover up wrote the newspaper.
Timor-Leste General Prosecutor Longuinhos Monteiro told STL. " We have 1520 witnesses for this particular indictment to sent the perpetrators to the court," the General Prosecutor was commenting to the press on the indictments of 8 Indonesian officials, issued on Monday. He said the charges were Crimes Against Humanity committed in Timor-Leste during 1999. The former Indonesian military chief, Wiranto who was also indicted this week, denied that he had committed any wrongdoing in TL during the territory's referendum in 1999. He said " I am ready to testify to the Indonesian people that I, as defense minister at the time of the independence referendum in Timor, never contemplated or ordered the committing of any crimes, including murder, torture, rape, kidnapping and deportation." Wiranto added that it is unlikely that any warrant would be served against him and his co-accused. (STL, Lusa)