Subject: AP: U.N. Rights Envoy For East Timor Named,
Plans Trip In May
Date: Sat, 15 May 1999 11:18:30 -0400
From: "John M. Miller" <fbp@igc.apc.org>Received from Joyo Indonesian
News:
May 11, 1999
U.N. Rights Envoy For East Timor Named, Plans Trip In May
Dow Jones Newswires
UNITED NATIONS (AP)--As the United Nations gears up for an August ballot on East
Timor's future, the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights appointed a personal envoy
Tuesday to assess the human rights situation in the troubled territory.
Soli Sorabjee, a U.N. human rights investigator for Nigeria, is expected to visit
Jakarta and Dili between May 14 and May 24 and make recommendations for short- and
long-term initiatives to improve the rights situation, a U.N. statement said.
The Indonesian army has been accused of human rights abuses for the more than 23 years
since the Jakarta government invaded East Timor and later annexed it.
Violence has expanded in the former Portuguese colony since Indonesia announced in
January that it would put the Timorese people on the path to independence if they vote
against remaining an autonomous part of Indonesia.
The U.N. is supervising the Aug. 8 ballot and has laid out minimum security standards
for the voting.
This week, the top U.N. civilian police adviser, Om Rathor, is in Dili to report on the
preparations for a U.N. civilian police mission to advise Indonesian police before and
during the ballot.
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