Subject: SMH: Timorese fear sabotage of transition
Date: Fri, 02 Apr 1999 08:03:00 -0500
From: "John M. Miller" <fbp@igc.apc.org>Received from Joyo:
Sydney Morning Herald 02/04/99
*Timorese fear sabotage of transition
By LINDSAY MURDOCH in Jakarta
Hopes of a peaceful United Nations-supervised vote to decide East Timor's future are
fading amid escalating tension among rival Timorese activists and an attack on Indonesia's
armed forces commander, General Wiranto, by the resistance leader, Xanana Gusmao.
Diplomats and analysts in Jakarta now fear that East Timor could quickly descend into
chaos and further violence unless the UN acts quickly to send peacekeepers.
But Mr Mario Carrascalao, a former governor of East Timor with strong links to the
Indonesian Government, told the Herald last night that Jakarta had no intention of
allowing international peacekeepers to supervise the vote.
"I don't think the Indonesians will agree to international peacekeepers ... that
is my information," he said. "They propose that ABRI [the Indonesian military]
will be in the villages when the vote is taken."
Indonesia's President, Dr B.J. Habibie, has promised independence if East Timorese
reject an offer of widespread autonomy in a vote it insists should be held in July.
Delivering his strongest attack since the announcement, Xanana appealed to the
international community to hold General Wiranto accountable for "murders and
violence" perpetrated by the armed forces in Timor, predicting a military strategy to
tighten control over the territory's 800,000 people to force them to opt for autonomy.
Xanana, now under house arrest in Jakarta, told the UN Human Rights Commission in
Geneva that the "terror, intimidation and murder to which the people are already
being subjected will be intensified.
"I find myself compelled to inform the international community that if strong and
effective pressure is not brought to bear on Indonesia to immediately disarm the civilian
militias, the people of East Timor are liable to lose their patience and, in the bloodbath
that would ensue, the only humanitarian assistance required will be to help bury our
dead," he said.
A senior official of Indonesia's Foreign Ministry, Mr Dino Patti Djalal, defended
General Wiranto, saying Indonesia's changed policy towards East Timor was not that of the
armed forces commander or the military but the Indonesian Government, which was acting
with humility and sincerity.
Mr Djalal said there were two sides to the violence in East Timor, where people are
getting killed almost every day. He said if Xanana was committed to peace he should order
his guerillas to return a cache of high-powered weapons they stole after raiding an
Indonesian military post, killing three soldiers, last year.
Indonesia's Foreign Minister, Mr Ali Alatas, has repeatedly denied accusations that his
Government wants to disrupt the autonomy vote but has acknowledged that civilians have
received training from the military in a nationwide program to bolster the security
forces.
While a senior UN official, Mr Francesc Vendrell, said in Australia this week that the
UN would need a presence in East Timor soon to begin preparations for a July autonomy
ballot, military experts say it would be almost impossible to put international troops or
police into East Timor's 404 villages with only months' notice.
Peter Cole-Adams reports from Canberra: For the first time, a local Indonesian radio
station, Radio Andyta in the troubled Sumatran province of Aceh, broadcast live yesterday
a Radio Australia Indonesian-language news service.
The ABC's managing director, Mr Brian Johns, described the station's decision to take
the daily Bahasa Indonesian program as "a tremendous breakthrough" and a
testament to Radio Australia's credibility in Indonesia.
Until now, the Radio Australia program has only been widely available, via short wave,
in provinces such as Ambon, East Timor and West Irian in the eastern part of Indonesia.
Back to April Menu
Human Rights Violations in East Timor
Main Postings Menu
June '98 through February '99 |
