Subject: CNN - US Congressional Group demands UN
peacekeepers in East Timor
Date: Sat, 21 Aug 1999 19:53:36 +1000
From: "Philip Dorling" <pocketdog@bigpond.com>CNN
21 August 1999
US congressional group demands UN peacekeepers in East Timor
August 21, 1999 Web posted at: 5:15 AM EDT (0915 GMT)
DILI, Indonesia (AP) -- A U.S. congressional delegation demanded on Saturday that the
United Nations rush an armed peacekeeping force to Indonesia's troubled East Timor before
escalating violence endangers an independence referendum.
"I'm afraid that if we don't have some peacekeeping forces here that the
intimidation and the level of violence might increase to the point where the election
could be in jeopardy. And we cannot let that happen," said Sen. Tom Harkin.
The Iowa Democrat said he would make an immediate plea to U.S. President Bill Clinton
for peacekeepers.
He claimed there was strong evidence that Indonesia's military has worked with
anti-independence militias waging a campaign of terror to derail the Aug. 30 vote.
"I am going to recommend to the president that he recommends to the (U.N.)
Security Council that they get some peacekeeping forces down here in a hurry," Harkin
said.
The delegation, which also includes Democrats Sen. Jack Reed of Rhode Island and Rep.
Jim McGovern from Massachusetts, made the same pledge to a crowd of villagers after
touring trouble spots in East Timor's western region, which has been wracked by bloodshed
for months.
The displaced Timorese are among thousands sheltering in makeshift camps, churches and
schools across the half-island territory after fleeing the violence.
The U.N.-supervised vote will give East Timor's people the choice between full
independence and staying part of Indonesia as an autonomous region.
Independence groups predict the vast majority of Timorese will choose to break away
from Indonesia, which invaded the former Portuguese colony in 1975 and triggered decades
of civil strife and guerrilla warfare.
The United Nations, which is supervising the ballot, has only several hundred unarmed
police advisors and military observers in the territory.
Indonesian police and security forces, for years accused of human rights abuses and
atrocities, are responsible for law and order.
But the U.N. mission and independence activists say sections of the military have
actively supported anti-independence militias. The army denies it.
The militias are accused of killing civilians and attacking unarmed U.N. personnel.
"Every single U.N. person who I spoke with said that he or she had either seen or
witnessed militia associating openly and freely with Indonesian military," Harkin
said. "It looks as though the militias are closely intertwined with the Indonesian
military and are receiving their orders and instructions from the Indonesian military and
that has to stop."
Reed said, "If the Indonesian military are involved in the provocations in the
intimidation, then (peacekeepers) may be the only alternative."
The delegation left the East Timorese capital, Dili, on Saturday for Jakarta, where
they hoped to meet Indonesian President B.J. Habibie.
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