Subject: WP: Letter - Work to Do For E Timor
Date: Sat, 22 May 1999 10:16:31 -0400
From: "John M. Miller" <fbp@igc.apc.org>Received from Joyo Indonesian
News:
Washington Post Wednesday, May 19, 1999
Letters
Work to Do For East Timor
The Post's April 16 editorial "A Hand for the Timorese" rightly points to the
primary obligation of nearby Australia in helping to bring about a peaceful transition in
East Timor, which was invaded and occupied by Indonesian forces in 1975. However, The Post
neglected to mention the responsibility of the United States and many of our allies.
It is an unfortunate fact that successive U.S. administrations, as well as European
nations and Japan (and Australia), provided military aid and diplomatic support for
Indonesian efforts to subjugate East Timor. As many as 200,000 people, a third of the
original population, have perished as a result of the Indonesian onslaught. The least the
world can do now is to provide United Nations peacekeepers to protect the survivors, as
European Union foreign ministers urge. There is also an urgent need to place more
diplomatic pressure on Indonesia to cooperate in ending the violence. The United States
must play a central role in this effort.
PAUL MOORE JR. Episcopal Bishop of New York (Ret.) New York
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