Subject: AFP: 20 ETimorese students remain missing
in wake of militia attack
Date: Sat, 29 May 1999 11:33:39 -0400
From: "John M. Miller" <fbp@igc.apc.org>Received from Joyo Indonesian
News:
Twenty East Timorese students remain missing in wake of militia attack
JAKARTA, May 23 (AFP) - Twenty students are still missing after an attack by
pro-Indonesia militiamen earlier this month on a polytechnic in the troubled territory of
East Timor, a rights activist said Sunday.
Anicetto Guterres, director of the Foundation for Human Rights and Justice, said some
may have gone into hiding.
But he said among the missing were two students seen being taken away by soldiers and
members of the Aitarak militia last Thursday, after they tried to recover belongings at
the school.
He told AFP by phone from the East Timor capital Dili that the whereabouts of the two
remained unknown Sunday despite calls to the local military and police offices.
Guterres said witnesses saw members of the army's Kopassus special force and militiamen
taking them away but the reason for their detention was unclear.
Militiamen attacked the polytechnic and other buildings in Hera district, four
kilometers (about 2.5 miles) east of Dili, on May 10.
Indonesia invaded East Timor in 1975 and annexed it the following year in a move never
recognized by the United Nations and most countries.
Tension between pro- and anti-Indonesia groups has risen since Jakarta announced in
January that it may grant independence if East Timorese reject an autonomy package in a
vote on August 7 or 8.
Most attacks have been staged by the pro-Indonesia militias whom witnesses say have
been armed by the military.
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