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Contact World Bank by August 2

No New Aid to Indonesia Until a Free & Fair Vote in East Timor and Indonesia's Presidential Election

Call or write the World Bank today.

Urge the World Bank to withhold the Social Safety Net Adjustment Loan until after East Timor votes for autonomy or independence. Indonesia should not be rewarded for refusing to live up to its commitments. Under the May 5 UN agreement setting up the vote. Indonesia is supposed to stop paramilitary violence in East Timor, and its officials aren't allowed to campaign.

Contact (phone or fax are best):
James Wolfensohn, President, World Bank
1818 H Street NW
Washington, DC 20433
tel: (202) 458-2907 fax: (202) 522-0355

Send copies to:
Jan Piercy, Executive Director for the U.S. to the World Bank
1818 H St. NW
Washington, DC 20433
Tel: 202-458-0110, Fax: 202-477-2967
email: jpiercy@worldbank.org

and your congressional Representative and Senators (For a current list of congressional e-mail addresses, office and fax numbers, try http://www.visi.com/juan/congress/ or http://www.congress.org )

Your calls and faxes do make a difference.

BACKGROUND The World Bank may soon decide to release $300 million of a planned $600 million Social Safety Net Adjustment Loan (SSNAL) to Indonesia. Indonesia could announce that its met some 10 of 25 required conditions to release the loan as early as Monday, August 2. The World Bank could release the currently suspended money soon after that.

According to a coalition of over 400 Indonesian and East Timorese organizations, there is evidence of significant abuses of Social Safety Net Funds in East Timor, "most of which are connected to the pro-integration campaigns and the support of pro-integration militias who are proven actors of terror and intimidation towards the East Timorese population."

Releasing these funds now would certainly send the wrong signal to Indonesia. The World Bank must make clear that aid to Indonesia is contingent on a free and fair UN ballot in East Timor and peaceful transition to East Timor's new political status.

The Indonesian and East Timorese groups say that without donor commitment to the rights of the East Timorese people, "millions of dollars of SSN funds, its implementors and its donors will be directly linked with the terrible violations of human rights in East Timor." The World Bank placed a hold on $600 million in SSNALs to Indonesia -- after approving them in May -- due to concerns about past abuses of SSNAL funds and fears about their misuse during Indonesia's elections. Indonesia has a history of misusing international funds to influence elections.

Indonesian activists requested that the funds be blocked until the establishment of a new government, but the World Bank only agreed to block the funds until the first stage of the June 7 national Indonesian election. The bank listed 25 problems (Complaints) with the SSNAL programs. Indonesia is supposed to fix 10 of them to get half the funds. One of these involved a threat by the Bupati (district head) of Ambeno to withhold poverty aid from villages who failed to attend meetings promoting autonomy for East Timor. Indonesia says they have satisfactorily addressed 10 Complaints and should now get the money. Clearly, they haven't addressed the Complaint pertaining to Ambeno, nor considered many other potential complaints concerning still-occupied East Timor.

On July 17, ETAN urged the World Bank and other donors to postpone any aid until after East Timor votes. "Pledging further financial assistance to Indonesia at this time would send an entirely wrong message to Jakarta, which has failed to stop military-supported paramilitary terror in East Timor, despite its commitments under the May 5 UN agreements," said Lynn Fredriksson, ETAN's Washington Representative in a press release. (http://www.etan.org/news/news99b/postpone.htm).

In June, ETAN urged the World Bank to continue to withhold Social Safety Net Funds (SSNF) for Indonesia due to evidence that these funds are being misused in East Timor. Leaked local government documents from East Timor show that SSNF were approved to pay civil defense units (CDUs), some of which incorporate paramilitary militias whose violent activities threaten to derail the August vote on the territory's political status. One of the regencies filing these documents was Ambeno, already named in one of the 25 World Bank Complaints. ETAN called for an audit of any bank funds used to date in East Timor. The World Bank has yet to respond to that request, but has since pulled its personnel from East Timor due to concerns about their security. (http://www.etan.org/news/news99b/worldbnk.htm)

For more information contact: East Timor Action Network Washington Office 110 Maryland Avenue NE #30 Washington, DC 20002 202-544-6911; 202-544-6118 (fax) etandc@igc.apc.org

or

John M. Miller Media & Outreach Coordinator, East Timor Action Network PO Box 150753, Brooklyn, NY 11215-0753 USA Phone: (718)596-7668 

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