Subject: SMH: Security concerns UN chief
Date: Sat, 12 Jun 1999 10:49:18 -0400
From: "John M. Miller" <fbp@igc.apc.org>Received from Joyo Indonesian
News:
Sydney Morning Herald 12/06/99
EAST TIMOR
Security concerns UN chief
By MARK DODD Herald Correspondent in Dili
Dili: The United Nations chief in East Timor, Mr Ian Martin, has raised serious
concerns about security in the province following continuing reports of violence and
intimidation by pro-Indonesian militias.
Mr Martin, the head of the UN Assistance Mission to East Timor (UNAMET), expressed his
concerns during meetings on Thursday with local government officials, army and police
chiefs in two districts with a poor reputation for security, the UN spokesman Mr David
Wimhurst said.
"Some of the most intensive reports of militia activity took place in Bobanaro
district of which Maliana is the capital," Mr Wimhurst said, quoting Mr Martin, who
had visited Suai and Bobanaro in the western border region of East Timor. Local government
officials in Maliana and Suai denied any security problems linked to recent militia
action, prompting a caustic response from Mr Wimhurst at a news briefing yesterday.
"Everyone knows there's problems in Suai. The fact that local authorities are
unable to confirm this suggests there is a problem there that needs to be
resolved,"he said.
Earlier this month Catholic Church sources in Suai claimed pro-Jakarta militiamen had
bragged of killing up to 500 pro-independence supporters between February and April and of
dumping the corpses into several crocodile-infested lakes.
Human rights workers and aid organisations report continuing widespread militia
intimidation throughout rural East Timor.
More than 100 people, mostly pro-independence supporters, have been killed since
January as a result of political violence.
Mr Wimhurst said the UN chief was satisfied with assurances of co-operation by senior
Indonesian police officers charged with maintaining law and order in East Timor in the
run-up to the referendum on self-determination scheduled for August 8.
However, Mr Wimhurst said security conditions necessary for the registration of voters
in East Timor had not yet been met.
The United Nations' top human rights official said she regretted the leader of a
violent anti-independence militia group has been allowed to take part in the regional
capital's civil defence force, Associated Press reported yesterday.
Mrs Mary Robinson, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, said the appointment of
Eurico Guterres, leader of the Aitarak militia, "did not inspire confidence in the
prospects for a free and fair ballot in East Timor next August".
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