Subject: AFP: US urges Indonesia to control
paramilitaries
Date: Sat, 10 Jul 1999 16:52:06 -0400
From: "John M. Miller" <fbp@igc.apc.org>Received from Joyo Indonesian
News:
US urges Indonesia to control paramilitaries
WASHINGTON, July 7 (AFP) - The State Department on Wednesday urged Indonesia to control
militia and paramilitary groups blamed for attacking an aid convoy and harassing UN
officials in East Timor.
"We've made it very clear, unmistakably clear, our view that the actions of the
militias or paramilitaries on East Timor are unacceptable," State Department
spokesman James Foley said.
"More importantly, the Indonesian government ... has a responsibility to bring
those militias under control," he said, calling a referendum on East Timorese
independence in August "an important process."
"It's a potential resolution to a long-simmering and very bloody problem with a
potential way out that provides an opportunity for the people of East Timor to decide
their own future peacefully," Foley said.
"And so we continue to call on the Indonesian government to meet its
responsibilities, to ensure that the militias are brought under control and that threats
to the UN cease, and that threats to the integrity of the vote cease as well."
"We think this is an important vote. We want it to take place. But it must take
place under appropriate and safe conditions," he said.
Earlier Wednesday in Jakarta, the chief of the UN Mission in East Timor (UNAMET) asked
the Indonesian armed forces to rein in pro-Indonesian militia before the planned vote on
self-determination next month.
UNAMET chief Ian Martin, speaking after a meeting with Indonesian armed forces chief
General Wiranto, also hinted at another delay in the vote unless conditions improve.
UNAMET teams in three outposts have been pulled back because of harassment by militia
forces also responsible for an attack Sunday on a humanitarian aid convoy.
In earlier statements, Martin has said the militia attacks exhibited a "disturbing
pattern" and called police inaction to halt the convoy attack
"inexcusable."
UN chief Kofi Annan will determine July 13 whether security conditions permit the poll
to go ahead in August, two weeks later than originally planned.
In next month's ballot, East Timorese will be asked whether they want the former
Portuguese territory, annexed by Jakarta in 1976, to remain part of Indonesia or to become
independent.
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