Subject: UN Aerial survey shows urgent need for
teams to probe atrocities
Date: Sat, 25 Sep 1999 12:42:32 -0400UN calls for rights investigators after seeing
towns wiped out
DILI, East Timor, Sept 25 (AFP) - The UN Mission in East Timor, after making an aerial
survey of destroyed towns in the territory, said Saturday there was an urgent need for
teams to begin probing human rights atrocities.
UNAMET spokesman David Wimhurst said reconnaisance flights of East Timor's eastern
districts had revealed massive destruction, with complete towns levelled and no people in
sight.
And he called for a specialist team to immediately begin investigating massacres and
human rights abuses committed during a terror campaign mounted by Indonesian army-backed
militia.
Wimhurst, who was among UN staff evacuated to Darwin at the height of the violence,
told reporters at his first news conference since returning here Friday that the problem
was "big, very big."
"I'm pleased to be back, even though before I left the town was not so
devastated," he said. "This is the first time I've seen it and as you know, it's
pretty shocking."
There were positive signs on Saturday of a return to Dili by some of its civilian
population, with the Saturday morning markets doing a brisk trade in food to hungry
people.
But Wimhurst said tens of thousands of people still had not been able to return.
"That will not happen until the security position improves," he said.
He said UNAMET did not yet have teams of investigators deployed in the investigation of
human right abuses reported throughout the territory.
"It's obviously very clear that specialist investigation teams are necessary to
come into the territory as soon as possible to assist UNAMET and to assist the UN civilian
police and others who would be engaged in this inevstigation."
The UN reconnaissance survey, done on Friday by helicopter, has shown the eastern towns
of Dilor and Los Palos 75 percent destroyed while Lore and Manatuto appeared completely
levelled.
"Very, very few people were seen moving around in them," he said.
Indonesian authorities have agreed in talks with the UN High Commissioner for Refugees
(UNHCR) to allow humanitarian groups into Indonesian West Timor where more than 150,000
internally displaced people are living in refugee centers which reports have likened to
concentration camps.
"The extent of the discussions concerning the return of the displaced people is as
yet unclear," Wimhurst said.
UN efforts to get emergency food supplies to tens of thousands of people still taking
refuge in the mounainous regions around Dili is also continuing.
Six tonnes of high-protein biscuits were dropped by a Hercules transport aircraft over
a 160 kilometer (100 mile) stretch near the town of Remexio on Friday, and another food
drop was planned for Saturday.
In the meantime UN agencies have begun a detailed assessment of the total numbers of
displaced people in need of emergency aid.
The troop buildup continued here Saturday with reinforcements arriving aboard the troop
carrier HMAS Tobruk, to join more than 3,000 soldiers of the UN-backed international
peacekeeping force already here.
Subject: SCMP: Passing of 'fascist' security bill will secure army role
Date: Sat, 25 Sep 1999 12:40:30 -0400
South China Morning Post Thursday, September 23, 1999
INDONESIA
Passing of 'fascist' security bill will secure army role
VAUDINE ENGLAND in Jakarta
A controversial, military-sponsored security bill is expected to be become law today in
one of the final acts of Indonesia's Suharto-era Parliament. The bill is sponsored by
armed forces chief General Wiranto and his faction.
Despite growing opposition, it has reached the final plenary session, an indication of
the military's firm intention to remain central to political life.
Yesterday, more than 1,500 protesters scuffled outside Parliament with police, who
fired tear-gas and waded into the crowd. Dozens of protesters were injured and soldiers
were called in.
"If Parliament passes this bill, our country will be fascist," one protester
shouted to the crowd, made up mostly of students, some armed with iron bars and rattan
sticks.
In Surabaya, police moved in to break up a protest by about 500 students, injuring 19
students. More protests are expected today.
If passed, the law would allow the military to impose emergency rule where it sees fit.
It leaves unclear the issue of whether parliamentary approval would be needed.
Such emergency rule would allow for draconian search and seizure powers, curfews, media
blackouts and arbitrary arrests.
The bill has provoked outrage among students, reformists and opposition politicians.
But some deputies in Parliament appear ready to use their last 24 hours in office to
garner either payments or other rewards from military sponsors.
Opposition factions say the bill would wipe out most of the civil liberties regained
since the fall of former president Suharto.
"This bill was first drafted 10 years ago, so you can imagine how drastic and
authoritarian it would be," said Fajrul Falaakh, a chairman of the Nadhlatul Ulama
Muslim organisation.
The ability of the armed forces to bring the security bill so far forward sends a dark
message about the state of the reform movement.
Any assertion of outright military rule would face strong opposition across the
political spectrum, yet still the military must be accommodated.
"You need at least a working relationship with this military, whether you like it
or not," a Western analyst said.
This prominence of the military in politics is heightened by the failure of the armed
forces to prevent international peacekeepers in East Timor.
"You cannot force this military into a corner, it's too dangerous," the
analyst said.
This fear, of an embattled and humiliated army lashing out, is growing, especially as
the international community demands an accounting of the corpses in East Timor and the
holding of trials of those Indonesian generals and militia leaders deemed responsible.
Regardless, or because of, the international condemnation of the military, it is clear
the generals want to assert their perceived right to an important role in choosing a
president and maintaining him or her in power. The security bill is one part of their
insurance policy, designed to guard their pivotal place in defending national order and
stability.
World Leaders Contact List The East Timorese
need you to speak out for them
Back to September Menu
Human Rights Violations in East Timor
Main Postings Menu
Search Postings
1998 (+January & February '99) Postings |
